LIBRARY 

OF   THK 

University  of  California. 


Class 

EDUC. 
PSYCH. 


LIBRARY 


The  Naturalisation  of  the 
Supernatural 


By 

Frank  Podmore 

I 

Author  of 

Modern  Spiritualism — A  History  aad  a  Criticism  /  Studies   in  Psychical 

Research  /  Apparitions  and  Thought  Transference,  etc. 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

Zbc  ftnlckctbocher  press 

1908 


P5f 


EDUC. 

PSYCH. 

UBBARY 


Copyright,  1908 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


smmL 


Ube  finicfecrbocScr  ipress,  -Wevp  KotR 


T 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

HE  illustrative  narratives  quoted  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages  are  selected  partly  from  the 
Proceedings,  but  mainly  from  the  unpublished 
Journal  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research. 
I  desire  to  acknowledge  the  courtesy  which  has 
placed  these  materials  at  my  disposal. 

F.  P. 

October,  1907, 


182^08 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 
Introductory 

PAGE 

Founding  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  :  its  aims  and  methods : 
the  subjects  to  be  investigated — Telepathy  or  thought- 
transference  :  its  history ;  its  relation  to  the  physical  world     .         .       I 

CHAPTER  II 
Experimental  Thought  Transference 

The  Brighton  experiments  by  Professor  and  Mrs.  Sidgwick:  trans- 
ference of  numbers ;  of  mental  pictures — Difficulties  of  experiments 
at  distance — Experiments  by  Mrs.  Verrall.  Experiments  at  a  dis- 
tance, by  Dr.  Wiltse— by  the  Rev.  A.  Glardon— by  Miss  Campbell 
and  MissDespard — by  Miss  Miles  and  Miss  Ramsden  .         .         .16 

CHAPTER  III 

Spontaneous  Thought-Transference — 
Mind's  Eye  Visions 

Evidence  to  spontaneous  occurrences  inferior  to  the  experimental  evi- 
dence :  various  sources  of  error  discussed — Transference  of  indefinite 

impressions,  Professor ,  Mr.  Garrison,  Mr.  Young— of  visual 

impressions,  Miss  C.  P.  M.  C,  Mrs.  D.,  Miss  Angus,  Mr.  Policy— 
of  auditory  impressions,  Frau  U. — of  pain,  Mrs.  Castle— of  motor 
impulse,  Archdeacon  Bruce 47 

CHAPTER  IV 

Spontaneous  Thought-Transference — 
Coincident  Dreams 

Weakness  of  evidence  derived  from  dreams :  the  greater  scope  for  chance 
coincidence;  the  difficulty  in  accurately  recollecting  the  impres- 
sion— Examples  of  dreams  which  may  reasonably  be  regarded  as 
telepathic:  from  Dr.  Adele  Gleason,  Mrs.  Krekel,  Mr.  H.  B.,  Miss 
Clarkson,  Mrs.  Mann,  Mr.  Brierley,  Mrs.  Knight  .  .     76 

V 


vi  Contents 

CHAPTER  V 
On  Hallucinations  in  General 

PAGE 

Common  misconception  of  the  nature  of  apparitions.  They  are  in  fact 
hallucinations.  The  Census  of  Hallucinations — its  results— dis- 
tribution of  hallucinations  amongst  the  sane.  Hallucinations 
occurring  at  the  time  of  a  death ;  calculation  as  to  chance  coincidence — 
Difficulties  in  connecting  experimental  cases  of  thought-transference 
with  spontaneous  hallucination.  Transition  formed  by  case  of 
apparitions  experimentally  produced — Examples  from  Mr.  Godfrey, 

Mrs.  E ,   Miss  Danvers.     On  reciprocal  telepathy : — Example 

from  Captain  Ward  and  Mrs.  Green 99 

CHAPTER  VI 

Telepathic  Hallucinations 

The  importance  of  attestation  by  contemporary  documents.  Examples — 
Auditory,  Miss  C.  Clark — Visual,  Prince  Duleep  Singh,  Mme. 
Broussiloff,  Mrs.  Michell,  Mr.  Kearne,  Miss  Hervey — With  gro- 
tesque accompaniments,  Mr.  Dove — Comparison  of  hallucinations 
with  dreams — Cases  where  the  "agency"  is  doubtful,  Miss  R.  and 
Mrs.  Bagot — Collective  percipience,  Mr.  Tweedale        .         .         .   124 

CHAPTER  VII 
Poltergeists 

Antiquity  and  wide  range  of  the  phenomena — Rise  of  Modern  Spirit- 
ualism from  Poltergeists — A  typical  case,  the  trial  at  Cideville,  given 
at  length  from  the  court  records — The  connection  with  Witch- 
craft. Fallacies  of  observation  and  memory — both  sources  of  error 
illustrated  by  case  from  Sumatra,  reported  by  Mr.  Grottendieck     .   149 

CHAPTER  VIII 
Spiritualism 

Importance  of  the  subject :  an  extensive  religious  movement.  Difficulties 
in  the  way  of  investigation  and  gradual  diminution  of  the  mani- 
festations. No  positive  results  obtained  by  the  Society — The 
investigation  of  slate- writing :  discrepancies  and  evidential  weakness 
demonstrated  by  Dr.  Hodgson :  Mr.  Davey's  pseudo-seances :  their 
triumphant  success:  explanation  of  the  methods  employed— Inherent 
weakness  of  all  evidence  depending  upon  continuous  observation. 
The  case  of  Eusapia  Palladino  still  under  consideration  .         .171 


Contents  vii 

CHAPTER  IX 
On  Communication  with  the  Dead 

PAGE 

Some  disapprove  the  enquiry :  most  are  simply  indifferent — Causes  of 

this  indifference.     Difficulties  of  the  enquiry — its  vindication  .       .  203 

CHAPTER  X 
Phantasms  of  the  Dead 
Announcement  of  death  by  dream  or  waking  vision  :  examples  from  Mr. 
Peebles,  Miss  Kitching,  Mrs.  Haly,  Mr.  King,  Mr.  Tandy,  Mr. 
Cameron  Grant :  indications  in  each  case  that  the  vision  may  have 
originated  in  the  thoughts  of  the  survivors — Case  of  Mrs.  Y. — 
Information  furnished  in  dreams,  etc.  :  examples  from  Prof. 
Dolbear,  Miss  Whiting,  Dona  Nery,  Miss  Conley.  The  question  of 
latent  memory — Collective  hallucinations,  discussion  of  their  origin 
and  significance :  examples  from  Rev.  A.  Holborn,  Mrs.  A.  and 
others,  the  Misses  Russell      ........  21a 

CHAPTER  XI 
Haunted  Houses 

The  influence  of  locality  in  facilitating  telepathy:  examples  from  Mrs. 
Benecke,  Mrs.  O'Donnell — Apparitions  associated  with  skeletons; 
examples  from  W.  Moir,  Mrs.  Montague-Crackanthorpe — Appari- 
tion haunting  country  road :  Miss  Scott  and  bthers — Records  of  a 
haunted  house :  Miss  Morton — Character  of  evidence  for  haunted 
houses  in  general  ..........  245 

CHAPTER  XII 
Messages  Received   through   Trance  and   Automatism 

The  study  of  hypnotism,  etc. ,  has  revolutionised  psychology.  Conscious- 
ness composite.  Consciousness  in  normal  life — in  sleep — in  hypno- 
tism— in  morbid  dissociations  of  personality — in  automatism.  On 
pseudo-personalities.  Messages  received — in  reverie,  Mr.  C. — 
through  motor  automatism.  Judge  Harden — through  automatic 
writing,  Prof.  Aksakof — in  spontaneous  trance,  Mr.  Wilkie — in 
hypnotic  trance,  Dr.  Vidigal 275 

CHAPTER  XIII 
The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 
Record  of  automatic  writings  by  Mrs.  Verrall — Apparent  fulfilment  of  a 
test  in  her  writing — A  message  from  the  dead.    Earlier  mediums — 


viii  Contents 

PAGR 

Ad^le  Maginot  and  Stainton  Moses.  The  case  of  Mrs.  Piper — Early 
history — Control  by  Phinuit — Mr.  J.  T.  Clarke's  interview — Record 
by  Sir  O.  Lodge — The  George  Pelham  control — Striking  imperson- 
ation— Later  communications 299 

CHAPTER  XIV 
On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

Myers's  view  of  these  transcendental  faculties,  and  their  relation  to  the 
subliminal  self — Evidence  for  Clairvoyance  at  close  quarters :  Dick, 
the  pit  lad:  Alexis  Didier:  Major  Buckley's  experiments — Travel- 
ling Clairvoyance :  examples  from  Dr.  Barcellos,  Miss  Busk — On 
Prevision :  weakness  of  dream  evidence,  dreams  of  numbers  drawn 
for  conscription — Symbolic  hallucinations :  Mrs.  Verrall's  instance 
of  the  "death-watch" — Pseudo-prophetic  dreams:  Mrs.  McAlpine, 
Mr.  F.  Lane — Apparent  prediction  through  automatic  writing: 
Mrs.  Verrall — in  dream,  Colonel  Coghill,  Prof.  Newbold.  Con- 
clusion   331 

Index 367 


The  Naturalisation  of  the  Supernatural 


THE   NATURALISATION  OF 
THE   SUPERNATURAL 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTORY 

//  has  been  widely  felt  that  the  present  is  an  opportune  titfie  for 
making  an  organised  and  systematic  attempt  to  itwestigate  that 
lafge  group  of  debatable  phefiomena  designated  by  such  terms  as 
vtesfneric,  psychical,  and  spiritualistic. 

From  the  recorded  testimony  of  many  competent  witnesses,  past 
and  present,  inchiding  observations  recently  7nade  by  scientific  men 
of  eminence  in  various  countries,  there  appears  to  be,  amid  much 
delusion  and  deception,  uti  important  body  of  remarkable  phe- 
nomena, which  are  prima  facie  inexplicable  on  any  generally 
recognised  hypothesis,  and  which,  if  incontestably  established, 
would  be  of  the  highest  possible  value. 

The  task  of  examining  such  residual  phenomena  has  often  been 
undertaken  by  individual  effort,  but  fiever  hitherto  by  a  scientific 
society  organised  on  a  sufiiciently  broad  basis. 

The  above  extract  from  the  original  prospectus 
of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  issued  in 
1882,  shows  the  spirit  in  which  it  entered  on  its 
investigations,  the  aim  which  it  set  before  itself, 
and  the  methods  by  which  it  was  proposed  to 
pursue  this  aim. 


2  Introductory 

The  title  which  I  have  chosen  for  the  present 
book,  "The  NaturaHsation  of  the  Supernatural," 
describes  in  popular  language  the  object  aimed  at. 
The  facts  which  the  Society  proposed  to  investigate 
stood,  and  some  still  stand,  as  aliens,  outside  the 
realm  of  organised  knowledge.  It  proposed  to  ex- 
amine their  claim  to  be  admitted  within  the  pale. 
And  it  is  important  to  recognise  that  whether  we 
found  ourselves  able  to  accept  the  credentials  of 
these  postulants  for  recognition,  or  whether  we  felt 
ourselves  compelled  to  reject  them  as  undesirables, 
the  aim  which  the  Society  set  before  itself  would 
equally  be  fulfilled.  In  undertaking  the  enquiry 
we  did  not  assume  to  express  any  opinion  before- 
hand on  the  value  of  the  evidence  to  be  examined. 
Whatever  the  present  bias  of  individual  members 
towards  belief  or  disbelief,  it  will  not,  I  think,  be 
charged  against  us,  by  any  one  who  dispassionately 
studies  the  results  published  in  the  earlier  volumes 
of  the  Proceedings  and  in  the  book,  Phantasms  of 
the  Living,  in  which  the  case  for  telepathy  was  first 
set  before  the  public,  that  any  private  preposses- 
sions were  allowed  to  pervert  the  methods  of  the 
enquiry.  To  ascertain  the  facts  of  the  case,  at 
whatever  cost  to  established  opinions  and  pre- 
judices, has  been  the  consistent  aim  of  the  Society 
and  its  workers.  If  some  of  our  investigations  have 
resulted  in  the  detection  of  imposture,  the  discovery 
of  unsuspected  fallacies  of  sense  and  memory,  and 
the  general  disintegration  of  some  imposing  struc- 
tures built  upon  too  narrow  foundations ;   whilst 


Introductory  3 

others  have  revealed  the  occurrence  of  phenomena 
which  neither  chance  nor  fraud  nor  fallacy  of  sense 
can  plausibly  explain,  and  for  which  the  present 
scientific  synthesis  has  as  yet  found  no  place,  it  is 
pertinent  to  remember  that  the  investigators  have 
been  the  same,  the  methods  pursued  the  same,  and 
the  object  in  all  cases  was  simply  the  discovery  of 
the  truth. 

There  is  another  point  to  be  made  clear.  The 
prospectus  just  cited  speaks  of  an  "  organised  and 
systematic"  investigation.  It  was  characteristic  of 
the  Society  in  the  first  few  years  that  its  methods 
of  work  were  elaborated  and  the  canons  of  evidence 
laid  down  in  committee  ;  and  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  actual  work,  whether  of  experimental  investi- 
gation or  merely  of  weighing  and  analysing  reports 
made  by  contributors,  was  again  done  in  concert. 
It  may  be  admitted  that  the  leading  investigators 
were  attracted  to  the  enquiry  mainly  in  the  hope 
of  finding  empirical  evidence  for  the  existence  of 
the  soul  after  death.  So  long  as  the  collection  and 
appraisal  of  evidence  was  a  joint  work,  there  were 
no  grounds  for  thinking  that  the  existence  of  this 
hope  in  any  way  biassed  our  reception  of  the  evi- 
dence or  the  scope  of  the  conclusions  based  upon 
it.  But  after  the  preliminary  survey  which  oc- 
cupied the  first  few  years  of  the  Society's  existence, 
the  need  for  concerted  action  was  no  longer  so 
urgently  felt.  Different  portions  of  the  field  at- 
tracted different  workers  ;  and  the  results  of  individ- 
ual investigations   in  the   outlying   regions   show 


4  Introductory 

marked  divergences  of  opinion.  Wherever  this 
divergence  exists,  I  shall  endeavour  to  sum  up  the 
evidence  as  fairly  as  I  can  :  but  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  conclusions  set  down  are  my 
own,  for  which  my  colleagues  are  in  no  way 
responsible. 

Another  misconception  of  the  nature  ot  our 
work  should  perhaps  be  referred  to.  It  is  objected, 
of  recent  years,  by  some  scientific  critics  that  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research  has  no  justification 
for  its  existence.  Some  of  the  phenomena  which 
it  investigates,  say  these  critics,  are  subject-matter 
for  the  psychologist  or  the  physicist  ;  the  remain- 
der can  be  left  to  the  police  court.  The  best  justi- 
fication for  our  work  is  that  it  is  now  possible  for 
such  a  contention  to  be  put  forward.  Twenty-five 
years  ago  the  psychologist  and  the  physicist  showed 
no  eagerness  to  come  forward ;  and  even  the  in- 
terference of  the  police  court  was  intermittent,  and 
frequently  ill  advised.  The  phenomena  which  we 
have  investigated  have  proved  no  doubt  to  be 
heterogeneous,  but  until  they  were  investigated 
their  relations  could  not  be  discovered.  It  is  ob- 
vious now  that  some  of  them  can  be  subsumed 
under  existing  branches  of  science.  But,  to  take 
an  illustration,  until  some  disposition  is  shown  by 
medical  men  or  professional  psychologists  to  under- 
take the  task  of  investigating  the  hallucinations  of 
the  sane,  it  is  surely  premature  to  brand  the  inves- 
tigators of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  as 
usurpers.     A  brief  survey,   however,  of  what  has 


Introductory  5 

actually  been  done  will  make  the  position  clearer. 
The  phenomena  to  be  investigated  by  the  Society 
were  roughly  classified  in  1882  under  five  heads: 

1.  An  examination  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  any  in- 
fluence which  may  be  exerted  by  one  mind  upon  another, 
apart  from  any  generally  recognised  mode  of  perception. 

2.  The  study  of  hypnotism,  and  the  forms  of  so-called 
mesmeric  trance,  with  its  alleged  insensibility  to  pain  ; 
clairvoyance,  and  other  allied  phenomena. 

3.  A  critical  revision  of  Reichenbach's  researches 
with  certain  organisations  called  "  sensitive,"  and  an 
inquiry  whether  such  organisations  possess  any  power 
of  perception  beyond  a  highly  exalted  sensibility  of  the 
recognised  sensory  organs. 

4.  A  careful  investigation  of  any  reports,  resting  on 
strong  testimony,  regarding  apparitions  at  the  moment  of 
death,  or  otherwise,  or  regarding  disturbances  in  houses 
reputed  to  be  haunted. 

5.  An  inquiry  into  the  various  physical  phenomena 
commonly  called  spiritualistic  ;  with  an  attempt  to  dis- 
cover their  causes  and  general  laws. 

The  inquiry  under  heading  3  proved  inconclu- 
sive :  but  there  seems  now  little  room  for  doubt 
that  the  phenomena  reported  by  Reichenbach  were 
due  in  the  main  to  unconscious  suggestion,  a  fruit- 
ful and  until  recent  years  insufficiently  recognised 
source  of  error  in  all  investigations  in  this  obscure 
region.  The  inquiries  under  headings  i,  4,  and  5 
are  still  proceeding ;  and  the  results  so  far  reached 
will  be  set  forth  in  the  chapters  which  follow.  But 
the  study  of  hypnotism  (2)  has  been  practically 
abandoned  of  recent  years  by  the  lay  members  of 


6  Introductory 

the  S.  P.  R.,  precisely  because  it  has  been  claimed 
by  medical  men,  who  both  by  their  education  and 
their  opportunities  are  better  qualified  for  its  prose- 
cution. But  in  1882  no  English  doctor  who  cared 
for  his  reputation  had  a  good  word  to  say  for  hyp- 
notism ;  and  on  the  continent  its  chief,  almost  its 
only  exponent  was  Liebeault,  an  obscure  practi- 
tioner in  a  small  provincial  town.  The  attitude  of 
the  scientific  world  to  the  subject  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  in  drafting  the  Society's  pro- 
spectus it  was  thought  necessary  to  class  hypnotism 
amongst  "debatable  phenomena,"  and  to  write,a  gen- 
eration after  Esdaile  and  Braid,  of  the  "  alleged  in- 
sensibility to  pain  "  in  the  "  mesmeric  "  trance.  That 
within  the  last  decade  or  so  the  facts  of  hypnotism 
have  begun  to  find  acceptance  with  British  medical 
men  is  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the  experimental 
work  begun  by  Edmund  Gurney  and  the  writings  of 
Frederic  Myers,  and  later  to  the  adoption  of  hyp- 
notic suggestion  in  medical  practice  by  Dr.  Milne 
Bramwell,  Dr.  Lloyd  Tuckey,  and  other  members 
of  the  Society. 

The  investigations  under  headings  i,  4,  and  5  of 
the  prospectus  are,  as  already  said,  still  proceeding. 
And  in  the  course  of  its  existence  the  Society  has 
found  many  subjects  to  investigate  of  a  cognate 
character,  though  not  actually  included  in  the 
original  scheme.  A  committee  of  the  Society,  for 
instance,  of  which  Dr.  Hodgson  was  the  leading 
member,  examined  and  exposed  the  pretended 
marvels  of  Mme.  Blavatsky  and  the  early  Theo- 


Introductory  7 

sophists,  and  Professor  Barrett  has  by  his  exhaustive 
researches  made  out  a  strong  case  for  the  use  of 
the  divining-rod  in  finding  underground  water.  But 
the  most  important  of  the  investigations  undertaken 
by  the  Society  is  that  connected  with  Thought 
Transference,  or  Telepathy,  as  it  has  been  happily 
named  by  the  late  F.  W.  H.  Myers.  The  subject 
is  important  because  of  its  wide  scope  ;  if  the  prin- 
ciple of  a  new  mode  of  communication  is  once  ac- 
cepted an  extensive  range  of  phenomena  can  be 
explained.  It  is  important  also,  as  will  be  shown 
below,  because  of  its  possible  implications. 

The  belief  in  telepathy  has,  it  should  be  pre- 
mised, a  distinguished  pedigree — a  pedigree  which 
it  shares  with  the  doctrine  of  gravitation.  It  is  as 
old  as  the  days  when  Chaldean  shepherds,  watch- 
ing the  stars  by  night,  essayed  to  read  therein  the 
revelation  of  the  Divine  Will  and  to  forecast  the 
destiny  of  human  kind.  From  these  nightly  vigils 
came  the  fruitful  conception  of  an  invisible  influ- 
ence radiating  from  the  heavenly  bodies — an  influ- 
ence potent  for  good  and  evil,  yet  transcending  the 
limitations  of  mortal  senses.  At  the  hands  of  the 
later  alchemists — Paracelsus  and  his  successors — 
this  conception  received  a  remarkable  extension. 
Not  the  stars  only,  but  all  substances  in  the  uni- 
verse, they  taught,  radiate  influence  and  receive 
influence  in  turn.  Especially  was  this  true  of  man, 
for  man  is  the  true  microcosm — "  Man  containeth 
in  himself,"  says  Fludd,  "  no  otherwise  his  heavens, 
circles,  poles,  and  stars  than  the  great  world  doth." 


8  Introductory- 

Man,  above  all  other  substances,  and  above  all 
other  living  things,  was  perpetually  acting  upon  his 
fellows  by  means  of  this  invisible  effluence. 

Star  vibrates  light  to  star,  may  soul  to  soul 
Strike  through  some  finer  element  of  her  own. 

This  natural  action  and  reaction  could,  the  al- 
chemists taught,  be  strengthened  in  particular  cases 
by  the  exercise  of  will-power,  by  the  practice  of 
medicine,  and  by  magical  arts.  "  By  the  magic 
power  of  the  will,"  Paracelsus  writes,  "  a  person 
on  this  side  of  the  ocean  may  make  a  person  on 
the  other  side  hear  what  is  said  on  this  side  .  .  . 
the  ethereal  body  of  a  man  may  know  what  another 
man  thinks  at  a  distance  of  loo  miles  and  more." 
A  later  mystic,  the  Scottish  physician  Maxwell,  as- 
serts that  the  physician  who  has  learnt  to  influence 
his  patient's  vital  spirits  can  cure  that  patient's 
disease  at  any  distance  by  invoking  the  aid  of  the 
universal  spirit. 

This  conception  of  an  influence  which  emanates 
from  all  things  in  the  universe,  but  from  human 
bodies  in  particular,  was  popularised  by  that  genius 
among  quacks,  Franz  Antoine  Mesmer.  Many 
of  Mesmer's  followers  in  France,  Germany,  and 
England  proved,  or  thought  they  proved,  that 
there  did  indeed  radiate  such  an  invisible  healing 
effluence  from  the  mesmerist  to  his  patient.  The 
proof  was  chiefly  exhibited  in  the  power  of  the 
mesmerist — or  hypnotiser,  as  we  should  now  call 
him — to  send  his  subject  into  the  trance    or   to 


Introductory  9 

cause  him,  by  mere  force  of  will,  to  approach  from 
a  distance. 

A  very  curious  result  of  this  supposed  reciprocal 
influence  of  mesmerist  and  subject  was  demonstrated 
in  the  forties  by  some  of  our  English  mesmerists. 
The  entranced  subject,  it  was  shown,  would  fre- 
quently be  able  to  share  the  sensations  of  his  mes- 
merist, to  taste  what  he  was  eating,  or  to  feel  what 
he  was  feeling.  The  manifestations  of  this  curious 
faculty — the  existence  of  which,  whatever  its  explan- 
ation, has  been  confirmed  by  later  experiment — 
are  sometimes  extremely  ludicrous.  In  the  hypnotic 
sleep  it  is  as  a  rule  quite  easy  to  make  the  subject 
insensible  to  pain.  I  have  seen  a  youth  in  this 
condition  who  suffered  gladly  the  most  injurious 
attacks  upon  his  own  person — who  would  allow  his 
hair  to  be  pulled,  his  ears  pinched,  his  fingers  even 
to  be  scorched  by  lighted  matches.  But  the  same 
youth  would  the  next  moment  indignantly  resent 
the  slightest  injury  inflicted  upon  his  hypnotiser, 
who  would  all  the  time  be  standing  at  the  other 
end  of  the  room. 

Professor  Barrett  was  in  the  present  generation 
the  first  to  reproduce  experimental  results  similar 
to  those  recorded  by  Elliotson  and  his  contempo- 
raries, and  his  lead  has  since  been  followed  by  many 
others.  But  the  later  experiments  have  been  con- 
ducted under  much  stricter  conditions.  It  is  com- 
paratively easy  to  exclude  deliberate  fraud:  the 
real  difficulty  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  hypnotic  sub- 
ject— and  experiments  of  this  kind  are  found  to 


lo  Introductory 

succeed  best  with  hypnotised  persons — Is  extremely 
susceptible  to  suggestion  of  any  kind.  And  his 
susceptibility  is  frequently  Increased  by  hyperses- 
thesia  of  the  special  senses,  especially  the  sense 
of  hearing.  The  strictest  precautions  are  neces- 
sary, therefore,  in  all  experiments  conducted 
at  close  quarters,  to  ensure  that  no  information 
shall  reach  him  through  the  look,  the  gesture, 
or  even  the  breathing  of  the  bystander.  In  the 
cases  cited  In  the  next  chapter  the  conditions  of 
the  experiment  have  been  briefly  indicated,  but 
the  reader  Is  In  all  cases  recommended  to  study 
the  fuller  records  given  In  the  publications  of 
the  Society. 

There  remains  the  question  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  transmission.  When  I  tell  a  piece  of  news  to 
a  friend,  a  psychical  state  in  me  produces  a  corre- 
sponding psychical  state  In  him.  But  we  recognise 
that  the  psychical  process  proceeds  J>arz  ^assu  with 
a  physical  process.  The  tension  in  my  nerve  cen- 
tres provokes  to  action  my  organs  of  speech,  which 
give  rise  to  aerial  waves,  which  In  turn  produce  a 
physical  change  in  my  friend's  ears  and  so  ulti- 
mately In  his  brain.  Can  any  corresponding  chain 
of  physical  causation  be  traced  when  the  news 
is  conveyed  telepathlcally  ?  So  far  as  the  experi- 
ments at  close  quarters  are  concerned,  when  the 
two  parties  are  separated  by  a  few  feet  or  yards 
only,  there  Is  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  that  the 
entire  process  may  be  susceptible  of  expression  In 
physical   terms.     V/e   have  at   either  end   of  the 


Introductory  1 1 

chain  a  physical  event — the  changes  in  the  cere- 
bral tissues  which  are  presumed  to  correspond  to 
every  act  of  thought  or  sensation.  And  it  is  not 
without  interest  to  note  in  this  connection  that  the 
arrangement  of  some  of  the  nerve  cells  in  the 
brain  bears  a  superficial  resemblance  to  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  particles  in  the  "coherer"  used 
for  the  reception  of  the  message  in  wireless  tele- 
graphy.    Again, 

Rontgen  has  familiarised  us  [says  Sir  William  Crookes]  with 
an  order  of  vibrations  of  extreme  minuteness  compared  with 
the  smallest  waves  with  which  we  have  hitherto  been  ac- 
quainted, and  of  dimensions  comparable  with  the  distances 
between  the  centres  of  the  atoms  of  which  the  material  uni- 
verse is  built  up:  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  we 
have  here  reached  the  limit  of  frequency.  It  is  known  that 
the  action  of  thought  is  accompanied  by  certain  molecular 
movements  in  the  brain,  and  here  we  have  physical  vibrations 
capable  from  their  extreme  minuteness  of  acting  direct 
on  individual  molecules,  while  their  rapidity  approaches 
that  of  the  internal  and  external  movements  of  the  atoms 
themselves.' 

No  such  connection  between  thinking  brains  has 
been  proved  of  course  ;  but  we  have  here  a  mechan- 
ism apparently  sufficient  for  the  purpose  :  sufficient 
at  any  rate  to  meet  the  objection  urged  by  some 
that  the  establishment  of  telepathy  would  dislocate 
our  entire  conception  of  the  physical  universe.  Nor 
does  the  fact  that  only  certain  persons,  apparently, 
are  affected  by  the  telepathic  impulse  present  any 
serious  difficulty.     For  the  brain  of  both  agent  and 

'  Presidential  address  to  the  British  Association,  Sept.,  1898. 


12  Introductory 

percipient  may  conceivably,  on  the  analogy  of  wire- 
less telegraphy,  be  set  to  transmit  and  receive  only 
vibrations  of  a  certain  amplitude.  A  more  formid- 
able objection  is  found  in  the  action  of  the  force  at 
a  distance.  For  successful  experiment,  it  seems 
necessary,  in  most  cases,  that  the  two  parties  should 
be  in  the  same  room.  In  a  few  experimental  cases, 
however,  as  we  shall  see,  the  distance  over  which  the 
transmission  must  be  presumed  to  have  operated 
extends  to  twenty  miles  or  more.  And  in  some  of 
the  best  evidenced  cases  of  spontaneous  apparitions 
the  agent  and  percipient  were  half  the  world  apart.^ 
If,  however,  the  transmission  is  effected  by  ethereal 
vibrations,  the  force  diminishing,  as  in  the  case  of 
other  physical  energies,  in  the  ratio  of  the  square 
of  the  distance,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  an 
impulse  which  in  some  of  our  experiments  can 
barely  produce  its  effect  at  a  distance  of  a  few 
yards,  should  even  under  the  most  favourable  cir- 
cumstances, when  the  disturbance  is  presumably  of 
a  much  more  massive  character,  prove  sufficiently 
intense  to  bridge  a  gulf  of  thousands  of  miles.  Sir 
W.  Crookes  hazards  the  suggestion  that  "  intense 
thought  concentrated  towards  a  sensitive  with 
whom  the  thinker  is  in  close  sympathy  may  induce 
a  telepathic  chain  of  brain  waves  along  which  the 
message  of  thought  can  go  straight  to  its  goal 
without  loss  of  energy  due  to  distance."^     But  he 

'  See,  ^.  ^.,  case  No.  37  where  the  agent  was  in  Dublin  and  the  percipient 
in  Tasmania. 

^Proceedings,  S.  P,  R.,  vol.  xii.,  p.  352. 


Introductory  13 

indicates  that  the  suggestion  is  almost  a  forlorn 
hope  by  asking  further — "  Is  it  inconceivable  that 
our  mundane  ideas  of  spa-^e  and  distance  may  be 
superseded  in  these  subtile  regions  of  unsubstantial 
thought  where  '  near '  and  '  far '  may  lose  their 
usual  meaning?"  The  difficulty  is  indeed  so  great 
as  to  induce  some  thinkers  to  suggest  that  the 
psychical  process  may  be  without  a  physical  paral- 
lel— that  the  connection  between  the  two  psychical 
states  may  conceivably  be  found  in  the  psychical 
world  alone.^ 

But  after  all  such  a  conclusion  rests  entirely  upon 
a  negation — our  present  inability  to  conceive  of  an 
explanation.  And  that  inability  the  progress  of 
scientific  research  may  at  any  time  remove,  as  has 
happened  again  and  again  in  the  past  in  the  case  of 
similar  problems  which  at  one  time  seemed  equally 
secure  against  explanation  in  physical  terms.  The 
phenomena  of  animal  life  were  not  so  very  long 
ago  held  to  stand  outside  the  physical  world  :  the 
very  substances  of  which  our  tissues  are  composed 
were  supposed  to  owe  some  of  their  physical  pro- 
perties to  a  principle  of  vitality.  But  chemists  can 
now  build  up,  out  of  the  bricks  and  mortar  of  the 
dead  world,  many  of  these  once  mysterious  organic 
compounds.     They  have  not  yet,  it  is  true,  built  up 

'  This  was,  so  far  as  I  can  gather,  the  view  held  by  Mr.  Myers  (see 
Human  Personality,  especially  vol.  i. ,  p.  8,  "  this  direct  and  supersensuous 
communion  of  mind  with  mind  ").  See  also  Report  of  the  Committee  on 
the  Census  of  Hallucinations  {Proceedings,  vol.  x.,  p.  27)  and  the  Presi- 
dential address  to  the  Society  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Balfour,  Proceedings,  vol.  x.,  p. 
9-II. 


14  Introductory 

the  cathedral  of  Hfe,  even  in  the  humblest  proto- 
zoon  ;  but  all  architects  must  have  time  to  learn 
their  trade.  Again,  the  activities  of  man,  especially 
those  activities  which  are  accompanied  by  con- 
sciousness and  will,  were  also  for  long  thought  to 
be  outside  the  physical  world.  But  the  case  is  so 
far  altered  that  the  burden  of  proof  is  now  shifted 
to  the  other  side.  The  philosopher  who  claims  to 
interpolate  a  psychical  link  in  the  chain  of  physical 
processes  which  connects  nerve-stimulus  with  ac- 
tion has  to  meet  the  challenge  of  the  physiologist. 
We  have  grounds  for  hoping,  then,  that,  if  we  are 
content  to  wait,  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a 
physical  explanation  of  telepathy  may  ultimately 
diminish.  And  meanwhile  the  hypothesis  of  tele- 
pathy is  in  no  worse  case  than  is,  or  was  until  re- 
cently,^ the  hypothesis  of  gravitation.  The  energy 
which  causes  weight  conforms  to  the  law  of  the  in- 
verse square  ;  but  the  only  physical  explanations  of 
its  action  which  have  been  suggested  are  so  cum- 
brous and  involve  such  large  assumptions  as  to 
be  little  more  than  curiosities  of  speculation.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  have  little  difficulty  in  conceiv- 
ing of  a  mechanism  by  which  telepathy  could  oper- 
ate ;  the  difficulty  is  to  account  for  the  energy  not 
diminishing  more  rapidly  as  the  distance  increases. 
But,  after  all,  is  it  inconceivable  that  the  energy, 
when  it  is  liberated  under  the  most  favourable  cir- 

'  Possibly  the  recent  discovery  that  atoms  are  not  atomic,  and  that  their 
constituent  parts  may,  under  certain  circumstances,  move  freely  through 
space,  may  facilitate  the  acceptance  of  a  corpuscular  theory  of  gravitation. 


Introductory  15 

cumstances,  may  suffice  to  produce  the  effects  re- 
ported in  the  spontaneous  cases  referred  to  ? 

At  any  rate  we  can  but  wait  until  the  further 
progress  of  research,  not  necessarily  in  this  field 
alone,  may  throw  some  light  upon  the  problem. 


CHAPTER  II 

EXPERIMENTAL    THOUGHT    TRANSFERENCE 

NUMEROUS  experiments  in  the  transmission 
of  ideas  and  sensations  have  been  carried  on 
during  the  twenty-five  years  which  have  elapsed 
from  the  foundation  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research,  by  committees  of  the  Society,  by  individ- 
ual members  or  groups  of  members,  and  by  vari- 
ous Continental  students  of  the  subject.  Records 
of  many  of  them  will  be  found  scattered  through 
the  Society's  Proceedings  and  Jotirnals.  By  far 
the  most  important  of  these  investigations,  how- 
ever, are  those  conducted  at  Brighton  by  the  late 
Professor  and  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  and  later  by  Mrs. 
Sidgwick  and  Miss  Alice  Johnson,  assisted  by  Mr. 
G.  A.  Smith,  in  the  years  1 889-1891.  The  per- 
cipients were  several  youths,  aged  about  twenty  to 
twenty-five,  and  later  a  young  woman  employed  in 
a  shop. 

The  experiments  were  carried  on  whilst  the  per- 
cipients were  in  the  hypnotic  sleep,  the  hypnotiser 
and  agent  being  Mr.  G.  A.  Smith.  For  a  full 
record  of  the  experiments,  details  of  the  precau- 
tions taken,  and  an  analysis  of  the  answers  given, 
the  reader  is  referred  to  the  articles  in  Proceedings, 
vols.  vi.  and  viii.  It  is  impossible  here  to  do 
16 


Experimental  Thought  Transference     1 7 

more  than  briefly    summarise  the  conditions  and 
the  results. 

The  main  object  of  the  experiments  was  to  deter- 
mine the  fact  of  the  transmission  of  ideas  and 
sensations  by  other  than  the  ordinary  sensory 
channels  ;  and  for  this  purpose  a  form  of  experi- 
ment was  chosen  which  made  it  possible  effectually 
to  eliminate  the  operation  of  chance  coincidence  as 
an  explanation  of  the  results.  The  effectiveness 
of  the  precautions  taken  to  prevent  information 
passing  between  agent  and  percipient  by  normal 
means  will  be  discussed  later.  In  the  main  series 
of  experiments  a  set  of  small  wooden  counters, 
used  in  a  game  called  Lotto,  were  employed.  The 
counters,  eighty-one  in  number,  bore  the  numbers 
from  10  to  90  inclusive,  stamped  in  raised  letters 
on  their  face.  After  the  subject  had  been  hyp- 
notised, one  of  the  counters  was  drawn  at  ran- 
dom from  a  bag,  and  handed  to  Mr.  Smith  inside 
a  small  box,  in  such  a  position  that  it  was  impos- 
sible for  the  subject,  even  if  his  eyes  had  been 
open,  which  was  generally  not  the  case,  to  see  it. 
Mr.  Smith — who  in  the  course  of  the  lono-  series  of 
experiments  occupied  various  positions  with  rela- 
tion to  the  subject,  sometimes  in  front,  sometimes 
behind  or  at  the  side  ^ — would  look  intently  at  the 
number,  and  the  percipient  would  state  his  impres- 
sion. The  total  number  of  trials  under  these  con- 
ditions with  two  percipients,  young  men  named  P. 

'  The  position  in  each  experiment  is  indicated  in  the  published  report. 


1 8    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

and  T.,  was  617.  The  correct  number  was  given 
in  113  cases,  the  digits  being  given,  however,  in 
reverse  order  in  14  out  of  the  T13  cases.^  If 
the  coincidences  were  due  to  chance  alone  the 
most  probable  number  would  have  been  8.  That 
is,  it  is  proved  beyond  all  possibility  of  doubt 
that  in  this  particular  series  of  experiments  the  suc- 
cess attained  was  due  to  some  definite  and  uniform 
cause.  In  other  words,  if  it  can  be  conclusively 
shown  that  the  percipient  could  not  have  obtained 
knowledge  of  the  numbers  by  the  ordinary  pro- 
cesses of  sensation,  due  allowance  being  made  for 
the  hypersesthesia,  especially  of  hearing,  frequently 
met  with  in  hypnotised  subjects,  the  results  point 
unmistakably  to  the  existence  of  some  hitherto 
unrecognised  mode  of  communication.  It  is  this 
hypothetical  mode  of  communication  which  has 
been  provisionally  named  Telepathy  or  Thought 
Transference. 

It  seems  certain  that  the  percipients,  for  the  rea- 
sons already  given,  could  not  have  seen  the  figures. 
It  is  not  in  fact  difficult  in  such  experiments  to 
exclude  the  operation  of  sight.  But  it  is  a  much 
more  difficult  matter  to  ensure  that  a  hint  of  the 
number  chosen  shall  not  be  given  to  the  percipient 
by  subconscious  whispering  or  even,  conceivably, 
by  rhythmical  movements  of  the  agent's  body.  And 
the  fact  that  when  a  curtain  was  interposed  between 
the  agent  and  percipient,  or  when  they  were  placed 

'  Further,  9   of  the  successful  cases  are  recorded  as   having   been    "  to 
some  extent  second  guesses." 


Experimental  Thought  Transference     19 

in  separate  rooms,  success  became  much  more  un- 
certain, and  the  percipient  in  some  cases  received 
no  impression  at  all,  seemed  from  this  point  of  view 
extremely  suspicious.  The  actual  number  of  suc- 
cesses obtained  under  the  conditions  last  named 
with  the  best  percipient.  P.,  was  only  8  out  of 
139  trials — a  number  much  greater  than  the  prob- 
able number  if  chance  alone  operated,  but  propor- 
tionately much  smaller  than  the  number  obtained 
when  the  same  agent  and  percipient  were  together 
in  one  room,  without  any  obstacle  intervening.^ 
With  the  other  percipient,  T.,  only  one  success 
was  obtained  in  79  trials.  It  became  therefore 
important  to  determine  whether  the  unsuccessful 
trials  showed  any  tendency  to  confuse  a  number 
with  the  number  most  like  it  in  sound  or  next  in 
sequence.  Thus,  if  the  numbers  were  subcon- 
sciously muttered  by  the  agent  we  should  ex- 
pect to  find  that  the  percipient,  when  he  went 
wrong,  would  give  4  for  5,  6  for  7,  and  vice  versa. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  agent  subconsciously 
counted  the  numbers,  he  would  obviously  count  the 
digits  separately,  and  we  should  expect  to  find,  in 
the  unsuccessful  guesses,  traces  of  miscounting — 
7  or  9  would  be  given  for  8,  etc.  In  the  ac- 
companying analysis  of  the  guesses  of  one  of 
the  percipients  on  his  "  successful "  days  {i.  e.,  the 
days  with  at  least  3  successes),  we  find  no  trace 
of  the  operation  of  either  of  the  suggested  causes. 

•  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  vi.,  p,  155. 


20  Experimental  Thought  Transference 

Thus,  to  take  as  an  illustration  a  digit  with  which 
a  small  degree  of  success  was  obtained,  6  was 
named  correctly  only  14  times  out  of  37,  but  the 

21  incorrect  guesses  are  distributed  pretty  uni- 
formly over  all  the  other  digits,  from  o  to  9.' 

P.'s  Guesses  Alone  on  Successful  Days,  Mr.  Smith  being  in  the 
Same  Room  with  Him. 


li 

Numbers  Guessed. 

ri2  d 
0  2 

/ 

2 

3 

4 

s 

6 

7 

8 

9 

0 

2 
3 
4 
s 

6 

7 
8 

9 
0 

17 

I 
2 
4 

I 

2 
J 
I 

2 

5 

14 

8 

2 
2 
4 
I 
I 
4 

4 
5 
21 

4 

2 
I 
8 

I 

4 

2 
3 
23 

4 
4 

I 
2 
I 
2 

J 

3 
I 
16 
2 
4 
3 
I 
2 

I 

3 

4 

14 

4 

I 

I 

3 

2 

3 
2 

27 
5 

I 
2 

2 
3 
I 
I 

s 

3 
3 
20 

2 

2 

3 
3 
3 

I 

12 

2 

I 

I 
3 

I 
I 
8 

I 

2 
2 

3 

2 

3 

I 

43 
26 
46 
46 
46 
37 
45 
44 
21 
22 

Totals 
guess'd 

3^ 

41 

52 

46 

37 

28 

46 

40 

24 

17 

H 

376 

It  is  scarcely  conceivable,  if  the  successful  results 
were  actually  due  to  hearing  a  faint  whisper  or 
other  intimation  under  conditions  of  extreme  diffi- 


Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  i66. 


Experimental  Thought  Transference     21 

culty,  that  the  failures  should  not  show  some  clear 
indications  of  imperfect  hearing/ 

Nevertheless  it  seemed  desirable  on  all  accounts 
to  have  further  trials  with  the  agent  and  percipient 
in  different  rooms.  The  experiments  were  accord- 
ingly continued  in  the  following  year,  1890.  Two 
hundred  and  fifty-two  trials  were  made  with  Miss 
B.  at  a  distance  from  the  agent,  Mr.  Smith.  In 
148  of  these  trials  Miss  B.  was  placed  in  an  upper 

'  So  far  as  I  am  aware  the  only  serious  criticism  of  the  results  quoted  is 
that  which  is  contained  in  an  article  by  Messrs.  Hansen  and  Lehmann  of 
Copenhagen,  published  some  ten  years  ago  ( IVnndt^s  Phil .  Studien,  vol. 
xi.,  pt.  4).  The  authors  show  that  it  is  possible  for  information  to  be  con- 
veyed from  one  person  to  another  by  whispering  with  closed  lips — a  possibil- 
ity of  which  the  experimenters  in  1S89  were  not  aware.  Messrs.  Lehmann 
and  Hansen  made  a  series  of  experiments  in  the  transference  of  numbers 
under  these  conditions,  the  one  acting  as  "agent,"  the  other  as  "percip- 
ient." As  a  substitute  for  the  hyperesthesia  commonly  found  in  hypnotised 
subjects,  the  Danish  experimenters  placed  their  heads  in  the  foci  of  two 
concave  spherical  mirrors,  the  distance  between  the  foci  being  two  metres. 
Under  these  conditions  they  attained  considerable  success.  They  argued, 
further,  that  their  failures  showed  such  remarkable  correspondences  with 
the  failures  in  the  Sidgwick  experiments — part  of  which  are  given  in  the  table 
quoted  in  the  text — as  to  suggest  a  common  cause  for  the  two  sets  of  results. 
Professor  Sidgwick  {Proceedings,  vol.  xii.,  pp.  298-315)  has  examined  very 
closely  the  arguments  of  the  Danish  investigators.  The  question  of  uncon- 
scious whispering,  he  points  out,  had  been  expressly  considered,  and  the 
reasons  for  believing  that  it  had  not  operated  given  in  full.  The  attempt 
of  the  Danish  investigators  to  show  a  correspondence  between  the  results 
obtained  by  them  and  those  obtained  by  the  S.  P.  R.  investigators  breaks 
down.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  correspondences  are  not  more  numerous  than 
those  obtained  by  pure  chance.  Professor  Lehmann  himself  has  since 
admitted  the  force  of  Sidgwick's  counter-argument,  and  agrees  that  his 
theory  is  not  yet  established  (see  his  letter  to  Professor  W.  James,  quoted 
in  the  Jounial,  S.  P.  R.,  1899,  p.  115).  In  any  case  it  must  be  admitted 
that  it  would  be  extremely  difficult  to  explain  by  a  combination  of  uncon- 
scious whispering  and  hyperossthesia  of  hearing  the  results  quoted  below, 
in  which  agent  and  percipient  were  in  different  rooms,  with  door  or  ceiling 
intervening. 


2  2    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

room,  Mr.  Smith  being  in  the  lower  room,  sep- 
arated from  the  room  above  by  a  match-board  ceil- 
ing and  a  wooden  flooring  covered  with  a  thick 
Axminster  carpet.  In  148  trials  there  were  20 
complete  successes.  Thirty-three  trials  with  the 
positions  reversed  yielded  no  success.  In  71  fur- 
ther trials  Mr.  Smith  was  seated  in  the  passage 
in  Mrs.  Sidgwick's  lodgings  in  Brighton,  Miss 
Johnson  sitting  between  him  and  the  closed  door. 
Miss  B.  was  in  the  room  at  a  total  distance  from 
the  agent  varying  from  12  to  17  feet.  Under  these 
conditions  7  complete  successes  were  obtained.* 

Thus  in  252  trials  there  were  27  complete  suc- 
cesses— a  number,  of  course,  far  beyond  the  pos- 
sible scope  of  chance.  But  146  trials  during  the 
same  period  with  Miss  B.  and  Mr.  Smith  in  the 
same  room  showed  26  complete  successes.  Clearly 
therefore  the  slight  difference  in  conditions  mate- 
rially affected  the  results.  In  view  of  the  startHng 
results  obtained  over  m.uch  greater  distances  in 
some  later  experiments,  and  in  the  cases  of  spon- 
taneous telepathy  to  be  quoted  hereafter,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  understand  how  a  slight  increase  in  distance, 
or  the  interposition  of  such  obstacles  as  ceilings  and 
doors,  could  really  prejudice  the  physical  process  of 
transmission.  The  explanation  of  the  difficulty  is 
possibly,  as  Mrs.  Sidgwick  suggests,  to  be  sought 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  viii.,  p.  540.  In  all  the  cases  quoted  I  have 
for  the  sake  of  simplicity  omitted  to  give  the  cases  in  which  one  digit  only 
was  correctly  named  and  in  its  right  order.  The  complete  successes  show 
such  overwhelming  odds  against  chance  alone  as  the  cause,  that  the  addition 
of  these  partial  successes  would  hardly  add  anything  to  the  demonstration. 


Experimental  Thought  Transference     23 

in  the  psychological  conditions.  On  the  one  hand, 
the  parties  to  the  experiments,  because  of  the  novel 
conditions,  were  probably  not  so  sanguine  of  suc- 
cess. On  the  other  hand,  the  greater  tediousness 
of  experiments  conducted  under  such  conditions 
would  be  likely  to  operate  unfavourably.  It  must 
be  recorded  that  in  nearly  four  hundred  trials  with 
the  same  percipient.  Miss  B.,  the  agent  being  in  an- 
other house,  or  separated  from  the  percipient  by 
two  closed  doors  and  a  passage,  practically  no 
success  was  obtained.* 

Another  series  of  experiments  conducted  during 
the  same  period  by  Mrs.  Sidgwick  and  Miss  John- 
son is  valuable  as  illustrating  the  transference  of  a 
complicated  impression — an  imaginary  scene.  The 
general  conditions  were  the  same  as  in  the  experi- 
ments already  described.  The  subject  of  the  pic- 
ture would  be  selected  by  one  of  the  experimenters 
and  communicated  in  writing  to  Mr.  Smith  who 
would  then  visualise  the  idea  suggested.  The 
other  experimenter,  who  would  as  a  rule  be  left 
in  ignorance  of  the  subject  chosen,  would  sit  by 
the  percipient  and,  if  necessary,  question  him  on 
what  he  saw.  One  of  the  most  successful  per- 
cipients was  P.,  the  young  man  already  referred 
to.  Two  illustrations  may  be  quoted.  The  first 
experiment  was  made  on  July  9,  1891. 

No.  I 

P.'s  eyes  were  not  opened  and  he  was  told  that  what  he  would 
'  Proceedings^  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  viii.,  p.  547. 


2  4    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

see  would  be  a  magic-lantern  picture.  (This  idea  was  sug- 
gested to  us  by  Whybrew,  who  had  imagined  earlier  in  the 
same  day  that  he  was  seeing  magic-lantern  pictures  when  Mr. 
Smith  was  trying  to  transfer  mental  pictures  to  him.)  Mr. 
Smith  made  him  see  the  sheet  and  then  went  down-stairs  with 
Miss  Johnson  and  was  asked  by  her  to  think  of  an  eagle  pur- 
suing a  sparrow.  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  who  remained  upstairs  with 
P.,  in  a  few  minutes  induced  him  to  see  a  round  disk  of  light 
on  the  imaginary  lantern  sheet  and  then  he  saw  in  it  "  some- 
thing like  a  bird  "  (?)  which  disappeared  immediately.  He 
went  on  looking  (with  closed  eyes  of  course)  and  presently 
thought  he  saw  "something  like  a  bird — something  like  an 
eagle."  After  a  pause  he  said  :  "  I  thought  I  saw  a  figure  there 
— I  saw  5.  The  bird  's  gone.  I  see  5  again,  now  it 's  gone. 
The  bird  came  twice."  Mr.  Smith  then  came  up-stairs,  and 
P.  had  another  impression  of  an  eagle.  He  was  told  that  the 
eagle  was  right  and  there  was  something  else  besides,  no  hint 
being  given  of  what  the  other  thing  was.  He  then  said  that 
the  first  thing  he  "saw  was  a  little  bird — a  sparrow  perhaps — 
he  could  not  say — about  the  size  of  a  sparrow  ;  then  that  dis- 
appeared and  he  saw  the  eagle.  He  had  told  Mrs.  Sidgwick 
so  at  the  time." 

In  the  next  case,  with  the  same  percipient,  the 
desired  picture  could  not  be  elicited  without  a  small 
amount  of  prompting.  The  subject  set  to  Mr. 
Smith  was  "  The  Babes  in  the  Wood.  " 

No.  2 

To  begin  with  P.  sat  with  closed  eyes,  but  when  no  impres- 
sion came,  Mr.  Smith  opened  his  eyes  without  speaking,  and 
made  him  look  for  the  picture  on  a  card.  After  we  had 
waited  a  little  while  in  vain,  Mr.  Smith  said  to  him  :  "  Do  you 
see  something  like  a  straw  hat  ? "  P.  assented  to  this,  and 
then  began  to  puzzle  out  something  more  :  "  A  white  apron, 
something  dark— a  child.     It  can't  be  another  child,  unless 


Experimental  Thought  Transference    25 

it 's  a  boy — a  boy  and  a  girl — the  boy  to  the  right  and  the  girl 
to  the  left.  Little  girl  with  white  socks  on,  and  shoes  with 
straps."  Mr.  Smith  asked:  "What  are  they  doing?  Is  it 
two  children  on  a  raft  at  sea  ? "  P.  "  No,  it  's  like  trees  in  the 
background — a  copse  or  something.  Like  a  fairy  story — like 
babes  in  a  wood  or  something." 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  in  the  last  case,  that  the 
picture  seemed  to  develop  piecemeal,  parts  of  it 
being  seen  before  their  relation  to  the  whole  was 
recognised.  This  characteristic  is  more  marked  in 
the  following  case,  in  which  a  prominent  part  of  the 
picture,  though,  it  would  seem,  distinctly  seen,  was 
misinterpreted  in  the  first  instance.  The  percip- 
ient in  this  case  was  Miss  B.  The  subject  set  was 
a  sailing-boat.  Mr.  Smith  at  first  sat  behind  a 
screen.  At  a  later  stage  he  came  and  sat  near  the 
percipient,  but  without  speaking. 

No.  3 

Miss  Johnson,  who  did  not  know  what  the  subject  of  the 
picture  was,  asked  Miss  B.  whether  it  was  anything  like  an 
animal.  Miss  B.  said  :  "  No — got  some  prong-sort  of  things — 
something  at  the  bottom  like  a  little  boat. — What  can  that  be 
up  in  the  air  ? — Cliffs,  I  suppose — cliffs  in  the  air  high  up — its 
joining  the  boat — oh,  sails — a  sailing-boat — not  cliffs — sails." 
This  was  not  all  uttered  consecutively,  but  partly  in  answer 
to  questions  put  by  Miss  Johnson,  but  as  Miss  Johnson  was 
ignorant  of  the  subject  of  the  supposed  picture,  her  questions 
could  of  course  give  no  guidance. 

In  another  case,  when  the  subject  set  was  a  cow 
being  milked,  Miss  B.  succeeded  only  in  seeing  a 
buffalo  !     That  these  imaginary  pictures  were  very 


2  6    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

real  to  the  percipients  was  clearly  shown  in  many 
instances.  Here  is  an  account  of  one  of  his  visions 
given  by  a  youth  named  Whybrew  : 

No.  4 
On  July  i6th,  Mr.  Smith  himself  hypnotised  Whybrew,  as 
usual.  During  the  experiment  he  sat  by  him,  but  did  not 
speak  to  him  at  all  after  he  knew  the  subject — a  man  with  a 
barrow  of  fish — given  him  by  Mrs.  Sidgwick.  Miss  Johnson, 
not  knowing  what  the  subject  was,  carried  on  the  conversa- 
tion with  Whybrew.  He  said  :  "  It 's  the  shape  of  a  man. 
Yes,  there  's  a  man  there.  Don't  know  him.  He  looks  like  a 
bloke  that  sells  strawberries."  Miss  Johnson  asked  :  "  Are 
there  strawberries  there  ?  "  Whybrew  :  "  That  looks  like  his 
barrow  there.  What 's  he  selling  of  ?  I  believe  he  's  sold  out. 
I  can't  see  anything  on  his  barrow — perhaps  he  's  sold  out. 
There  ain't  many — a  few  round  things.  I  expect  they  're 
fruit.  Are  they  cherries  ?  They  look  a  bit  red.  Are  n't  they 
fish?  It  don't  look  very  much  like  fish.  If  they 're  fish,  some 
of  them  has  n't  got  any  heads  on.  Barrow  is  a  bit  fishified — ■ 
it  has  a  tray  on.  What  colour  are  those  things  on  the  barrow? 
They  looked  red,  but  now  they  look  silvery." 

Whybrew  was  rather  pleased  with  this  picture, 
and  asked  afterwards  whether  it  was  for  sale  ! 

No.  5 
The  next  case  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  danger 
of  excessive  culture.  The  experiment  came  near 
to  failure  because  the  percipient,  a  young  man 
named  Major,  had  too  lofty  a  conception  of  the 
functions  of  art.  "  The  subject  given  was  a 
mouse  in  a  mouse-trap.  Regarding  himself  as  a 
man  of  culture  and  being  generally  anxious  to  ex- 


Experimental  Thought  Transference     27 

hibit  this,  Major  asked  if  it  was  to  be  an  old  master 
or  a  modern  '  pot-boiler. '  He  was  told  the  latter, 
and  he  then  discoursed  on  '  pot-boilers  '  and  how  he 
knew  all  the  subjects  of  them — mentioning  two  or 
three — in  a  very  contemptuous  manner.  He  did 
not  seem  to  see  anything,  however,  and  appeared 
to  be  expecting  to  see  an  artist  producing  a  rapid 
sketch.  Then,  when  told  that  the  picture  was 
actually  there,  he  suddenly  exclaimed  :  '  Do  you 
mean  that  deuced  old  trap  with  a  mouse  ?  He 
must  have  been  drawing  for  the  rat-vermin  people.'  " 
Another  interesting  series  of  experiments  in  the 
transference  of  imagined  scenes  is  recorded  by  Mrs. 
A.  W.  Verrali,  of  Cambridge.  Mrs.  Verrall  has 
conducted  many  experiments  with  H.,  the  agent  in 
this  case,  a  child  (in  1893)  between  nine  and  ten 
years  of  age,  and  has  found  indications  of  telepathic 
powers,  both  in  H.  and  herself. 

No.  6.  From  Mrs.  A.  W.  Verrall 
"  In  the  autumn  of  1893  we  tried  to  transfer  visualised 
scenes  ;  in  this  I  believe  myself  to  have  had  some  slight  suc- 
cess as  percipient  with  other  people.  H.  and  I  sat  in  the 
same  room,  at  some  distance,  back  to  back  ;  she  thought  of  a 
scene  or  picture,  I  looked  at  the  ceiling,  described  what  I 
saw,  and  drew  it.  There  was  not  complete  silence,  but  no 
leading  questions  were  asked,  and  very  few  remarks  made.  I 
took  down  at  the  time,  on  one  occasion  [Experiment  (d) 
given  below],  every  word  that  was  said,  and  am  sure  that  no 
sort  of  hint  is  given  by  H.,  other  than  the  inevitable  one  of 
satisfaction  or  disappointment,  of  which  I  am  conscious, 
though  it  is  not  expressed.  After  my  description  and  draw- 
ing  were    complete,  H.  made   rough  outlines  in  some   cases 


2  8    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

where  her  description  was  not  definite  enough  to  please 
her.  She  did  this  before  seeing  my  drawings.  We  have 
made  in  all  seven  attempts,  besides  two  where  I  had  no  im- 
pression of  any  kind.  Out  of  these  seven,  in  two  cases  H.'s 
visualisation  was  not  clear  enough  to  enable  her  to  draw  any- 
thing, and  in  these  two  cases  I  failed  completely.  In  one 
case  there  may  have  been  a  connection  between  my  impres- 
sion and  H.'s  mental  picture  ;  the  four  remaining  cases  I  will 
describe  in  detail. 

(a)  My  description  was  as  follows  : 

Darkish  centre,  perhaps  brown  ;  light  or  white  side  pieces  ; 
like  an  odd-shaped  chandelier  or  a  gigantic  white  butterfly. 
Most  conspicuous  vivid  blue  background,  as  if  the  object 
were  seen  against  a  bright  blue  sky.  My  drawing  is  repro- 
duced on  the  Plate,  marked  P.  i, 

H.'s  picture,  in  her  own  words  : 

Ship  leaving  Port  Gavin,  very  tall,  brown,  central  mast, 
white  sails — the  whole  showing  against  a  brilliant  blue  sea, 
with  dark  brown  rocks  on  one  side.  For  H.'s  drawing,  see 
Plate,  fig.  A.  I. 

She  had  seen  this  on  the  Cornish  coast,  when  on  a  visit 
without  me,  and  had  been  struck  with  the  beauty  of  colour- 
ing.    She  was  disappointed  at  my  not  seeing  the  rocks. 

(b)  My  description  : 

Fat  insect — no,  child — child  with  its  back  to  me,  and  arms 
and  legs  stretched  out  ;  colour  reddish  brown  in  the  centre  ; 
shiny  bright  head,  very  solid  body.     (See  Plate,  fig.  P.  2.) 

H.'s  picture  : 

Baby — in  a  passion,  standing  in  the  corner  with  his  face 
to  the  wall. 

The  child  in  question  had  very  shining,  bright  hair,  much 
brighter,  as  H.  said,  than  his  frock,  which  was  white  (not 
brown).     He  stood  with  legs  and  arms  outstretched. 

(c)  My  description  : 

Large  globe  on  the  top  of  a  pillar — base  indistinct — cannot 
see  colour  of  globe  ;  it  is  light,  has  reflections,  is  dazzling  and 


so     Experimental  Thought  Transference 

bright — perhaps  an  electric  light  on  the  top  of  a  pillar.  (See 
Plate,  fig.  P.  3.) 

H.'s  picture  : 

Sun  setting  behind  point  of  hill,  so  that  a  little  notch  is 
taken  out  of  the  disc  of  the  sun  by  the  point  of  the  hill.  The 
whole  scene  is  distant,  lower  ranges  of  hills  leading  up  to  the 
highest,  behind  this  is  the  setting  sun.  Mist  over  the  lower 
part.     (See  Plate,  fig.  A.  3.) 

(d)  My  description,  verbatim.     H.'s  comments  in  italics. 

Scene,  outdoors — colour,  green.      Ves. 

Right  hand  definite,  left  hand  undefined,  e.  g.  on  right  hand, 
mountain  or  hill,  line  of  trees,  house.      Which  ? 

Right  hand,  hill — green  hill,  clear  outline.  Something  at 
bottom  of  hill,  behind  it  sea— or  before  it.  Purplish  fiat  sur- 
face fills  middle  of  picture.  Object  (at  foot  of  hill)  not  nat- 
ural— mechanical,  geometrical  in  outline.     How  large  ? 

Can't  see  size  ;  colour,  white  and  red.  No  horizontal  lines  ; 
(lines)  vertical  and  aslant. 

H.'s  picture  : 

Dieppe  as  seen  from  the  steamer  (six  months  before  ;  H.'s 
first  impression  of  a  French  town).  Cliff  sharply  defined  on 
right ;  on  left,  view  cut  off  by  the  steamer.  Red  and  white 
houses  below  the  white  cliff  in  the  green  hill,  all  seen  across 
a  dull  bluish  sea. 

I  have  given  the  account  of  this  impression  in  detail  be- 
cause it  illustrates  the  difficulties  which  I  experience  in  what 
I  may  call  interpretation.  The  objects  present  themselves  to 
my  mind  as  groups  of  lines,  accompanied  by  an  impression  of 
colour,  but  there  are  no  external  objects  for  comparison,  so  that 
it  is  difficult  to  get  any  notion  of  their  size — and  sometimes,  as 
in  this  last  case,  they  appear  in  succession,  so  that  even  their 
relative  proportions  are  not  easy  to  determine.  The  "  object 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill  "  seemed  to  be  equally  likely  to  be 
a  house  with  a  red  roof  and  white  front,  a  red  waggon  with  a 
white  load,  or  a  child's  white  pinafore  against  a  red  dress.  The 
only  certainties  were  that  the  main  colours  were  red  and  white, 
and  the  general  trend  of  the  lines  vertical  and  aslant.     The 


Experimental  Thought  Transference    31 

description,  is,  I  think,  not  inaccurate  when  referred  to  the 
view  of  Dieppe  at  the  foot  of  the  cliffs.  Again,  in  the  third 
case,  it  will  be  seen  that  in  general  outlines  the  two  drawings 
are  similar,  but  I  interpreted  my  impressions  on  too  small  a 
scale  when  I  suggested  a  globe  of  electric  light  carried  on  a 
pillar  for  what  was  the  sun  momentarily  resting  upon  the 
hilltop.' 

The  form  of  these  experiments  is  open  to  some 
objection :  and  in  ordinary  cases  it  might  fairly  be 
suspected  that  the  success  attained  was  partly  due 
to  verbal  indications  given  by  the  agent,  which 
had  been  through  forgetfulness  omitted  from  the 
record.  But  with  an  experimenter  so  scrupulously 
exact  as  Mrs.  Verrall,  I  am  not  disposed  to  think 
that  allowance  of  this  kind  need  be  made,  and  it 
will  probably  be  conceded  that  the  coincidences  are 
too  striking  to  be  explained  as  the  result  of  the 
natural  concurrence  of  ideas  between  mother  and 
child. 

In  the  cases  quoted  of  experiments  in  the  trans- 
ference of  imaginary  scenes  it  seems  clear  that  the 
impression  transferred  from  the  agent's  mind,  how- 
ever indistinct,  has  been  of  a  visual  character. 
Sometimes,  however,  it  is  the  name  of  the  object 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.  vol.  xi.,  pp.  180-181.  Mrs.  Verrall  has  kindly 
allowed  me  to  see  her  original  notes  of  experiment  (d)  with  her  rough  draw- 
ing, made  before  she  learnt  from  H.  the  subject  set.  There  is  a  clear  re- 
presentation of  a  hill  with  scarped  cliff-like  outlines  to  the  right,  and  at  the 
foot  three  upright  parallel  lines,  with  oblique  lines  above  them  ;  lines  repre- 
senting a  flat  surface  to  the  left.  I  may  add  that  Mrs.  Verrall  has  given 
me  an  account  of  the  two  trials  described  in  the  text  as  complete  failures. 
I  should  have  hesitated  to  use  so  strong  a  term  ;  in  one  case  at  least  the 
description  of  Mrs.  Verrall's  impression,  though  vague,  seems  to  me  not 
inconsistent  with  the  scene  thought  of  by  the  agent. 


32     Experimental  Thought  Transference 

which  apparently  forms  the  basis  of  the  percipient's 
impression.  Well  marked  instances  of  this  kind  of 
transference  will  be  found  in  some  experiments  by 
Mr.  H.  G.  Rawson.^  But  in  experiments  of  this 
kind  at  close  quarters  it  is  extremely  difficult  to 
ensure  that  information  shall  not  be  conveyed, 
subconsciously,  by  muttering  or  whispering. 

For  similar  reasons  I  do  not  think  it  necessary 
to  quote  here  any  experiments  in  the  transference 
of  sensations  of  smell  or  taste ;  many  examples  of 
which  are  to  be  found  amongst  the  writings  of  the 
earlier  mesmerists.  A  few  experiments  of  the  kind 
are  also  recorded  in  our  Proceedings. 

Experiments  at  a  Distance 

We  have  no  continued  series  of  experiments  at 
a  distance  at  all  comparable  in  importance  to  the 
Brighton  experiments  at  close  quarters.  But  there 
are  several  cases  where  the  amount  of  coincidence 
seems  to  be  beyond  what  chance  could  afford.  Dr. 
A.  S.  Wiltse,  the  agent  in  the  following  example, 
has  sent  us  records  of  a  series  of  experiments  made 
in  the  course  of  the  year  1892  with  Mrs.  Wiltse, 
his  young  son,  and  one  or  two  neighbours.  These 
experiments,  all  at  close  quarters,  showed  a  consid- 
erable proportion  of  successes.  The  following  is 
the  only  experiment  made  at  a  distance.  One  suc- 
cessful experiment  had  been  made  with  Mr.  Raseco 
as  agent  in  the  same  room. 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xi.,  p.  2. 


Experimental  Thought  Transference     33 

No.  7.     From  Dr.  Wiltse,  Kismet,  Morgan  Co.,  Tenn. 
Experiment  28    {^Feb.,  i8gi). 

A.  S.  Wiltse,  as  agent,  attempts  to  produce  a  certain  image 
in  the  mind  of  T.  Raseco,  since  10  p.m.,  distance  apart  about 
200  yards  ;  both  in  bed,  by  appointment,  at  9.55  p.m.  Agent 
fixes  upon  the  image  he  will  produce,  so  that  no  possible  hint 
may  be  exchanged.  Meeting  the  next  morning,  they  exchange 
notes. 

Result. — A.  S.  W.  attempted  to  make  T.  Raseco  see  an 
African  jungle,  as  it  would  appear  at  night,  with  a  hunter's 
tent  in  front,  and  a  tiger  glaring  out  from  the  jungle.  Per- 
cipient to  see  only  the  glowing  eyes,  with  ill-defined  form  back 
of  them. 

T.  Raseco,  the  percipient,  saw  : 

A  large  and  dense  mass  of  bushes,  apparently  rose-bushes, 
as  there  seemed  an  abundant  profusion  of  roses.  In  the  midst 
of  this  mass  appeared  two  balls  of  fire,  behind  which  was  an 
ifidistinct  bulk  which  he  could  not  make  out. 

{Query  :  by  agent :  Why,  if  the  experiment  was  truly  par- 
tially successful,  as  would  seem  to  be  the  fact,  did  percipient 
see  roses  in  place  of  palms,  saw-palms,  etc.,  which  were  in  my 
mind  ?)  ' 

The  example  just  quoted  was,  as  said,  an  isolated 
case  of  experiment  at  a  distance.  In  the  following 
case,  however,  there  was  a  series  of  eighteen  trials. 
No.  8.     From  the  Rev.  A.  Glardon 

In  1893  and  1894  the  Rev.  A.  Glardon  and  a 
friend,  Mrs.  M.,  agreed  to  carry  on  experiments  in 
the  transference  of  mental  pictures  at  a  fixed  hour 
on  certain  days  ;  Mr.  Glardon  being  throughout  the 
series  in  Tour  de  Peilz,  Canton  Vaud,  and  Mrs.  M. 
being  first  in  Florence,  then  in  Torre  Pellice,  Italy, 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  Feb.,  1896,  pp.  199,  200. 
3 


Experimental  Thought  Transference     35 

and  finally  in  Corsica.  Mr.  Glardon  at  the  hour 
previously  arranged  would  draw  a  diagram  or  pic- 
ture and  concentrate  his  attention  on  it ;  the  per- 
cipient at  the  same  hour  would  sit,  pencil  in  hand, 
waiting  to  receive  impressions.  In  four  cases,  here 
reproduced,  the  percipient's  drawing  bore  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  original  diagram.      In  several 


other  cases  there  was  a  resemblance,  but  less 
marked.  The  amount  of  correspondence  seems  on 
the  whole  much  beyond  what  would  be  produced 
by  mere  association  of  ideas.  It  should  be  added 
that,  with  one  exception,  the  whole  of  the  drawings 
made  by  the  percipient  on  each  occasion  are  repro- 
duced. The  exception  is  the  experiment  marked  10. 
The  original  diagram,  as  shown,  was  a  Maltese  cross 

which  the  agent  notes  that  he  used  on  January  5th  and  6th, 
1894.    The  percipient  made  on  January  5th,  at  9.30  p.m.,  four 


36    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

drawings,  of  which  the  one  most  like  a  Maltese  cross  is  repro- 
duced as  R.  ID,  a.  On  January  6th  at  the  same  hour,  she  made 
four  drawings,  none  of  which  are  at  all  like  the  cross.  On 
January  8th,  at  9.30  p.m.,  she  made  four  drawings,  the  most 
successful  of  which  is  reproduced  as  R.  10,  b.     On  January  9th, 


at  9.30  P.M.,  she  made  first  two  drawings,  resembling  each  other 
pretty  closely,  and  added  the  note,  "  same  impression  as  last 
time."  One  of  these  is  reproduced  as  R.  10,  c.  She  seems 
then  to  have  gone  off  on  an  altogether  wrong  tack,  as  nine 
diagrams  of  a  different  character,  some  of  them  resembling  a 


Experimental  Thought  Transference    37 

flag  or  a  key,  follow.  Next  she  appears  to  have  made  a  fresh 
start,  drawing  three  diagrams,  one  of  which  is  R.  lo,  d.  To 
these  she  appends  the  note  :  "  always  come  back  to  the  same 
thing.  Probably  he  has  sent  nothing."  Finally,  on  one  cor- 
ner of  the  sheet,  she  draws  a  Greek  key  pattern,  marked 
"  afterwards."  ' 


The  two  ladies  who  conducted  the  experiments 
next  to  be  quoted  have  had  considerable  success  in 
previous  similar  trials.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  in 
the  first  of  the  two  cases  quoted  the  transferred  im- 
pression, if  indeed  it  may  be  claimed  as  "  trans- 
ferred," was  wholly  auditory — to  wit,  fragments  of 
the  word  "  candlestick  "  and  the  sound  of  a  train. 
In  the  second  experiment,  however,  the  impression 
was  visual.  There  were  four  experiments  alto- 
gether in  this  series  on  four  successive  nights  in 
December,    1895.      In    the    other    two    trials   the 


Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  1896,  pp.  325-328. 


38    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

objects   of  the  experiments  were  diagrams.     One 
was  a  complete  failure,  the  other  a  partial  success. 

No.  9. 

The  agent,  Miss  Despard,  was  at  Strathmore,  Surbiton 
Hill  Park,  Surbiton.  She  began  her  letter  on  December  27, 
11.30  P.M.,  and  continued  it  day  by  day  after  the  conclusion 
of  each  trial.  It  was  not  actually  posted  until  the  30th,  after 
the  conclusion  of  the  series. 

11.30  P.M. 

Dear  K., — As  you  know,  we  agreed  a  few  days  ago  to  try 
some  experiments  in  thought-transference — to  begin  to-night 
at  II  P.M. — alternate  nights  to  think  of  an  object  and  a  dia- 
gram. So  to-night  I  fixed  my  attention  about  11.4  p.m.  on 
a  brass  candlestick  with  a  lighted  candle  in  it.  I  feel  the  re- 
sult will  not  be  very  satisfactory,  for  I  found  difficulty  in  con- 
centrating my  mind,  and  not  having  decided  previously  what 
object  to  think  of,  I  looked  over  the  mantelpiece  first  and  re- 
jected two  or  three  things  before  fixing  on  the  candlestick.  A 
very  noisy  train  was  also  distracting  my  attention,  so  I  won- 
der if  you  will  think  of  that. 

December  29th,  11.40  p.m. — I  hope  this  will  be  more  suc- 
cessful. I  found  to-night  I  could  bring  up  a  much  clearer 
mental  picture  of  the  object — a  small  Bristol  ware  jug  about 
six  inches  high,  the  lower  part  being  brownish  red,  of  a  metal- 
lic coppery  colour,  the  upper  part  having  a  band  of  reddish 
and  light  purple  flowers  of  a  somewhat  conventional  rose  pat- 
tern— handle  greenish.  I  do  not  think  you  have  seen  this  jug 
as  it  has  been  put  away  in  a  cupboard  and  only  lately  brought 
out.     I  saw  the  jug  chiefly  by  bright  firelight. 

The  percipient,  Miss  Campbell,  who  was  in 
Heathcote  Street,  London,  W.  C,  writes  on  De- 
cember 29th : 

Dear  R., — I  have  nothing  very  satisfactory  to  report.  I  am 
sorry  to  say  I  quite  forgot  on  the  27th  about  our  projected 


Experimental  Thought  Transference    39 

experiments  until  I  was  just  getting  into  bed,  when  I  suddenly 
remembered,  and  just  then  I  heard  a  train  making  a  great 
noise,  and  as  I  have  never  noticed  it  like  that  before  I  won- 
dered if  it  was  one  of  your  trains.  I  could  not  fix  my  mind 
on  any  object,  but  clock,  watch,  bath,  all  flitted  past,  and  the 
circle  of  firelight  in  the  front  room  ;  the  only  word  that  came 
to  me  was  "  sand  "  and  a  sound  like  y^  or  ^  at  beginning  of  a 
word  (you  know  I  as  often  hear  the  name  of  the  object  as  see 
the  thing  itself).  I  stopped,  for  it  seemed  ridiculous,  but  you 
must  have  attracted  my  attention,  for  just  after  I  stopped  I 
heard  the  clock  here  strike  the  half  hour,  and  found  next 
morning  it  was  twenty  minutes  fast,  so  when  I  "  suddenly 
remembered,"  it  must  have  been  just  after  eleven. 

December  29,  11. 15  p.m. — The  first  thing  that  came  into 
my  mind  was  a  sponge,  but  I  think  that  was  suggested  by  the 
sound  of  water  running  in  the  bathroom,  and  next  I  had  more 
distinctly  an  impression  of  a  reddish  metallic  lustre,  and  I 
thought  it  must  be  the  Moorish  brass  tray  on  May's  mantel- 
piece :  but  at  last  I  saw  quite  distinctly  a  small  jug  of  a 
brownish  metallic  appearance  below,  with  above  a  white  band 
with  coloured  flowers,  lilac  and  crimson,  on  it.  I  can't  be 
sure  what  it  was  like  at  the  top,  for  that  seemed  to  be  in 
shadow  and  seemed  to  be  darkish — perhaps  like  the  bottom, 
but  I  saw  no  metallic  gleam.  I  don't  remember  anything  like 
this  among  May's  things,  but  the  impression  was  so  vivid  I 
describe  it. 

The  distance  between  agent  and  percipient  in 
this  series  was  not  less  than  twelve  miles.  It  is 
important  to  remark  that  neither  lady  saw  the 
account  written  by  the  other  until  after  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  series  of  experiments.  The  original 
letters,  in  their  envelopes,  have  been  handed  to  us. 
No.  10.  From  Miss  Clarissa  Miles  and  Miss  Hermione 
Ramsden 

A  longer  series  of  experiments  was  made  by  two 


40    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

ladies  in  October  and  November,  1905.  The  agent 
was  Miss  Miles,  living  at  59  Egerton  Gardens, 
London,  the  percipient  was  Miss  Ramsden,  of 
Bulstrode,  Gerrard's  Cross,  Buckinghamshire,  about 
twenty  miles  from  London.  The  time  of  the  ex- 
periments was  fixed  by  pre-arrangement.  There 
were  fifteen  trials  in  all.  Subjoined  are  records  of 
five  of  the  trials,  selected  not  merely  for  their  suc- 
cess, but  as  illustrating  the  conditions  of  percipi- 
ence.  In  the  quotations  which  follow  (A)  is  the 
note  made  by  the  agent.  Miss  Miles,  at  the  time  : 
(B)  is  the  note  made  at  the  time  by  the  percipient. 
Miss  Ramsden,  who  was  of  course  in  ignorance  of 
the  subject  chosen. 

Experiment  I 

(A)  October  i8th,  1905.     7  p.m. 

SPHINX. 

I  sat  with  my  feet  on  the  fender,  I  thought  of  Sphinx,  I 
tried  to  visualize  it.  Spoke  the  word  out  loud.  I  could 
only  picture  it  to  myself  quite  small  as  seen  from  a  distance. 
— C.  M. 

(B)  Wednesday,  October  i8th,  1905.     7  p.m. 

Bulstrode,  Gerrard's  Cross,  Bucks. 
I  could  not  visualize,  but  seemed  to  feel  that  you  were  sit- 
ting with  your  feet  on  the  fender  in  an  arm-chair,  in  a  loose 
black   sort  of  tea-gown.     The  following  words  occurred  to 
me  : 

Peter  Evan  or  'Eaven  (Heaven). 
Hour-glass  (this  seemed  the  chief  idea). 
Worcester  deal  box. 
Daisy  Millar. 


Experimental  Thought  Transference    41 

-  X  arm  socket  or  some  word  like  it. 

X  suspension  bridge. 

X  Sophia  Ridley. 

X  soupirer  (in  French),  which  I  felt  inclined  to  spell  sou- 
ipirer. 

There  is  some  word  with  the  letter  S.  I  don't  seem  quite 
to  have  caught  it. — H.  R. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  impression  throughout 
was  auditory,  and  that  there  was  a  gradual  approx- 
imation to  the  word  Sphinx. 

Experiment    VII 
(A)  October  27th.     SPECTACLES. 

C.  M. 
(B)  Friday,  Oct.  27th.     7  p.m. 
"  Spectacles." 
This  was  the  only  idea  that  came  to  me  after  waiting  a  long 
time.    I  thought  of  "  sense  perception,"  but  that  only  confirms 
the  above.     My  mind  was  such  a  complete  blank  that  I  fell 
asleep  and  dreamt  a  foolish  dream  (but  not  about  you).      At 
7.25  I  woke  with  a  start. — H.  R. 

Miss  Miles  adds  that  she  had  been  struck  earlier 
in  the  day  by  a  curious  pair  of  spectacles,  and  had 
determined  to  think  of  them. 

Experiment  VIII 
(A)  October  31,  1905.     SUNSET  OVER  ORATORY. 

C.  M. 
(B)  Tuesday,  October  31,  1905.     7  p.  m. 
First  it  was  the  sun  with  rays  and  a  face  peering  out  of  the 
rays.     Then  something  went   round  and  round  like  a  wheel. 
Then  the  two   seemed   to  belong  together,  and  I  thought  of 

'  The  crosses  indicate  those  impressions  which  Miss  Ramsden  marked  at 
the  time  as  being  especially  vivid. 


42    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

windmill.  A  windmill  on  a  hill  where  it  was  dark  and  windy 
and  there  were  dark  clouds.  Then  it  became  the  Crucifixion, 
and  I  saw  the  three  crosses  on  the  left  side  of  the  hill,  and  the 
face  on  the  cross  looked  to  the  right,  and  it  was  dark.  Wind 
and  storm. 

Surely  this  is  right.  It  is  the  most  vivid  impression  I  have 
ever  had.  I  scarcely  visualised  at  all,  it  was  just  the  faintest 
indication  possible,  but  the  suggestion  was  most  vivid. — H.  R. 

Miss  Miles  adds : 

I  was  painting  Mr.  Macnab,  and  there  was  a  beautiful  sunset 
over  the  Oratory.  Mr.  Macnab,  who  was  so  seated  that  he 
could  watch  it  better  than  I  could,  walked  to  the  window  and 
drew  my  attention  to  it.  His  face  became  illuminated  with 
the  rays  of  the  sun.  It  was  a  very  windy,  stormy  evening,  with 
weird  orange  lights  in  the  sky.  The  sun  sets  to  the  left  of  the 
Oratory.  From  my  window  I  see  the  central  figure,  and  two 
sorts  of  uprights  which  look  like  figures  in  the  dim  twilight. 
These  three  objects  show  out  dark  against  the  sky  to  the  left 
of  the  dome,  on  which  there  is  a  gold  cross.  All  this  I 
visualised  the  whole  evening  for  Miss  Ramsden  to  see.  At 
first  I  could  not  account  for  the  windmill.  I  discovered  a 
weathercock  in  the  distance,  on  the  top  of  a  building. — C.  M. 

[A  photograph  of  the  Brompton  Oratory,  taken 
by  Miss  Miles  from  the  window  of  her  studio,  is 
reproduced  here.] 

Miss  Ramsden  adds  : 

Hitherto  we  had  settled  that  Miss  Miles  was  to  make  me 
think  of  a  definite  object,  and  I  sat  down  as  usual  with  my 
eyes  shut,  expecting  to  get  a  single  idea  like  "spectacles."  I 
was  very  much  surprised  to  see  this  vision,  and  believed  it 
was  a  picture  of  the  Crucifixion  which  she  was  trying  to  make 
me  see.  I  looked  for  the  women  watching  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross,  and  was  surprised  that  I  could  not  see  them.  This  is 
curious,  because  I  distinctly  saw  a  figure  on  the  cross,  which 


c   i 


Experimental  Thought  Transference    43 

was  purely  the  result  of  my  own  imagination.  The  rays  of 
the  sun  and  the  cross  itself  appeared  for  an  instant  to  be 
luminous.  I  cannot  exactly  say  hoiv  I  saw  the  rest,  but  it  was 
the  most  vivid  impression  of  the  kind  that  I  ever  had  in  my  life. 

Experiment  X 

(A)  November  2nd.     HANDS. 

C.  M. 
(B)  Thursday,  November  2nd.     7  p.m. 
You  then  went  upstairs  to  your  bedroom  where  there  was 
no  fire,  so  you  put  on  a  warm  wrap. 

Then  I  began  to  visualise  a  little  black  hand,  quite  small, 
much  smaller  than  a  child's,  well  formed,  and  the  fingers 
straight.  This  was  the  chief  thing.  Then  faintly  an  eye. 
Then  W  that  turned  to  V,  and  V  turned  into  a  stag's  skeleton 
head  with  antlers.  A  I  P  upside  down  so  :  V  I  J.  .  .  .  M  E 
E  might  be  my  name.  I  was  not  sleepy  when  I  began,  yet  it 
soon  became  impossible  to  keep  awake.  .  ,  .  The  little  black 
hand  was  the  most  vivid  impression.  H.  R. 

Miss  Miles  adds  that  she  had  been  drawing  an 
outHne  portrait  in  charcoal  during  the  afternoon. 
The  sitter  states  that  the  part  most  finished  was 
the  hands. 

Experiment  XII 

(A)  Monday,  November  6th.     MARGUERITE  TENNANT. 

C.  M. 

(B)  Monday,  November  6th. 


Thomas  ?     (Saw  some  of  these  letters  separately,  they  seemed 
to  spell  Thomas.) 

■^  HE  (He  ?) 

Nothing  very  vivid  to-day. — H.  R. 


44    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

There  was  a  considerable  correspondence  in  some 
of  the  other  experiments  in  this  first  series.  The 
same  ladies  made  a  second  series  of  fifteen  trials  in 
October  and  November,  1906,  and  here  also  the 
results  showed  a  remarkable  correspondence  be- 
tween the  agent's  thoughts  and  the  percipient's 
impressions.  The  whole  record  is  worth  studying 
for  the  light  thrown  upon  the  nature  of  the  per- 
cipient's impressions  and  on  the  conditions  which 
apparently  favour  success  in  experiments  of  this 
kind.i 

As  already  stated  we  have  reproduced  many 
of  the  effects  ascribed  by  the  earlier  mesmer- 
ists to  "  community  of  sensation "  between  the 
operator  and  subject.  Amongst  other  remarkable 
effects  which  may  be  ascribed  to  telepathy,  are  the 
inhibition  of  speaking  on  the  part  of  the  hypnotised 
subject  by  the  silent  will  of  the  experimenter,  and 
the  production  of  sleep  at  a  distance.  The  classic 
experiments  of  this  character  in  recent  times  are 
those  conducted  by  Professor  Pierre  Janet,  Dr. 
Gibert,  and  later  by  Professor  Richet,  with 
Madame  B.2 

On  the  hypothesis  of  telepathy,  the  marvel  of 
sleep  at  a  distance  may  of  course  be  explained 
without  recourse  to  subtle  fluids  and  visibly  radiant 
will-power.  But  in  the  early  days  of  the  experi- 
menting in  this  subject  carried  on  by  the  Society 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xxi.,  p.  60. 

'  See  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  133  seqq.;  vol.  v.,  pp.  43-45;  Revue 
de  r  Hypnotisme,  February,  18S8,  etc. 


Experimental  Thought  Transference    45 

for  Psychical  Research  it  did  appear  to  some  of  us 
for  a  time  that  we  had  obtained  proof  of  an  actual 
physical  effluence  from  the  person  of  the  mesmerist. 
It  was  found  possible  with  certain  susceptible 
subjects  to  influence  a  particular  finger,  without 
the  subject's  knowledge,  so  as  to  paralyse  it  and 
make  it  insensitive  even  to  tolerably  severe  pain. 
The  subject's  arms  would  be  placed  through  a 
screen  in  such  a  manner  that  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  know  which  finger  or  fingers  were 
selected  for  the  purpose  of  the  experiment,  and 
the  hypnotiser  would  then  direct  his  eyes  and 
hand,  at  a  distance  varying  from  a  few  inches 
to  a  few  feet,  towards  the  finger  selected.  If  the 
experiment  was  successful — and  it  generally  was 
so — the  desired  result  would  follow  in  a  minute 
or  two. 

In  explanation  of  this  remarkable  result,  Mr. 
Gurney  was  inclined  to  assume  a  direct  physical 
influence  from  the  operator's  hand  affecting  lo- 
cally the  nervous  system  of  the  subject :  an  in- 
fluence, moreover,  which  was  conditioned  by 
the  will,  since  if  no  result  was  willed,  no  result 
foUowed,  notwithstanding  the  presence  of  the 
operator's  hand  in  close  proximity  to  that  of  the 
subject. 

Later  experiments,  however,  by  Mrs.  Sidgwick 
and  Miss  Johnson  have  shown  that  the  close  prox- 
imity of  the  agent  is  not  an  essential  condition. 
The  results  can  be  reproduced  at  a  distance  of 
twenty-five  feet,  or  when  a  thick  screen  of  glass  is 


46    Experimental  Thought  Transference 

interposed.  It  is  more  in  accordance  with  analogy 
therefore  to  ascribe  the  results,  like  the  others  dealt 
with  in  this  chapter,  to  an  affection  of  the  central 
rather  than  the  local  nervous  system.^ 

'  See  Proceeditigs,  S.    P.    R.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  257-260;  vol.  ii.,  pp.  201-205  J 
vol.  iii.,  pp.  453-459  ;  vol.  v.,  pp.  14-17  ;  vol.  viii.,  pp.  577-596. 


CHAPTER  III 

SPONTANEOUS    THOUGHT    TRANSFERENCE  :    MIND's 
EYE    VISIONS 

BEFORE  attempting  to  trace  the  operation  of 
telepathy  in  a  wider  field  it  is  necessary  to 
utter  a  word  of  warning.  The  experimental  evi- 
dence of  which  a  few  examples  have  been  cited  in 
the  last  chapter  constitutes,  and  must  continue  to 
constitute,  the  main  justification  for  the  assumption 
of  a  new  faculty.  However  calculated  to  impress 
the  imagination  may  be  the  narratives  which  fol- 
low, they  are  indefinitely  inferior  in  evidential  co- 
gency. It  was  these  spontaneous  occurrences,  with 
their  dramatic  setting,  which  first  drew  attention 
to  the  subject  and  which,  indeed,  first  suggested  the 
possibility  of  a  new  mode  of  communication  be- 
tween mind  and  mind.  But  it  is  doubtful  how 
far  such  occurrences  could  in  themselves  have  justi- 
fied the  belief.  The  position  may  be  illustrated 
from  another  field  of  research.  So  long  as  the  ex- 
ponents of  the  germ  theory  could  support  their 
position  only  by  arguments  derived  from  the 
observed  distribution  of  certain  diseases,  their  man- 
ner of  propagation  and  development,  their  periodic 
character — phenomena  which,  though  sufficiently 
47 


48     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

striking,  are  not  in  themselves,  perhaps,  susceptible 
of  exact  interpretation — the  doctrine  remained  a 
more  or  less  plausible  hypothesis.  It  was  not  until 
the  germs,  whose  existence  had  been  so  long  sus- 
pected, were  actually  isolated  in  the  laboratory,  and 
on  being  introduced  into  other  animal  bodies  had 
reproduced  the  disease,  that  the  association  of 
certain  maladies  with  the  presence  of  specific 
micro-organisms  in  the  body  became  an  accepted 
conclusion  of  science.  In  both  cases  the  reasons 
for  the  inferior  cogency  of  the  arguments  derived 
from  mere  observation  of  spontaneous  phenomena 
are  the  same.  We  cannot,  in  spontaneous  phe- 
nomena, so  control  the  conditions  as  to  eliminate 
the  operation  of  all  possible  causes  but  one ;  and 
we  cannot  rely  so  implicitly  on  the  accuracy  of 
the  records.  It  is  the  latter  circumstance  which, 
for  our  present  purpose,  constitutes  the  most  seri- 
ous drawback.  In  most  of  the  spontaneous  cases 
here  cited,  even  though  it  is  difficult  to  satisfy  our- 
selves in  every  case  that  some  obscure  association 
of  ideas,  some  deception  of  the  senses  or  other  un- 
recognised cause,  may  not  have  contributed  to  the 
result,  yet  the  central  incident  is  as  a  rule  suffi- 
ciently striking  and  unusual  to  make  it  practically 
certain  that  the  coincidences,  if  we  consider  the 
cases  as  a  whole,  are  not  due  to  such  "accidental  " 
causes,  provided  that  we  can  be  sure  that  the  inci- 
dent is  correctly  described.  That  is  really  the  crux 
of  the  question.  The  cases  of  intimation  of  death 
by  dream,  waking  vision  or  apparition,  cited  in  this 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference      49 

volume,  are  in  themselves  sufficiently  numerous,  as 
a  simple  calculation  will  show,  to  preclude  explan- 
ation by  chance,  if  no  serious  error  has  vitiated  the 
records. 

When  Miss  Campbell  and  Miss  Despard — to 
take  an  illustration  from  the  preceding  chapter — 
are  occupied,  the  one  in  present  sensation,  the  other 
in  imagination  with  the  same  scene,  the  conditions, 
as  said,  can  be  effectively  controlled.  Further,  the 
experimenters  have  some  experience  in  recording 
their  observations  :  the  time  of  the  experiment  is 
of  their  own  choosing,  so  that  they  are  not  taken 
unawares  :  the  records  are  practically  contempora- 
neous with  the  events  ;  each  is  made  before  any 
knowledge  of  the  other's  experience  is  forthcoming. 
Lastly,  both  parties  are  necessarily  concerned  to  be 
as  accurate  as  possible  in  describing  their  own  side 
of  the  experience,  since  any  fanciful  embellishment 
may  impair  the  accuracy  of  the  correspondence. 
But  when,  to  take  the  strongest  case,  a  man  sees 
the  vision  of  a  friend  at  the  time  of  his  death,  we 
have  no  such  safeguards  to  ensure  the  accuracy 
of  the  record.  The  vision  finds  him  unprepared 
and  often  unable  to  appreciate  its  significance. 
Even  when  the  impression  produced  is  such  as  to 
induce  the  percipient  to  make  a  note  of  the  circum- 
stance or  to  write  a  letter  about  it  before  the  cor- 
respondence with  the  death  is  known,  it  is  but 
rarely,  as  the  following  narratives  will  show,  that 
the  contemporary  record  is  preserved.  When  no 
note  is  made,  and  we  have  to  depend  entirely  on 


50     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

the  memory  of  the  narrator  writing  after  the  fact 
of  the  coincidence  is  known,  there  are  many- 
errors  from  which  the  most  scrupulous  of  witnesses 
can  scarcely  hope  to  hold  himself  altogether  free. 
Often  the  percipient's  experience  may  be  coloured 
in  retrospection  by  the  emotion  roused  by  the  news 
subsequently  received.  In  any  case  with  the  lapse 
of  time  the  picture  preserved  in  the  memory  is 
liable  to  be  unconsciously  brought  more  and  more 
into  conformity  with  the  narrator's  conception  of 
what  ought  to  have  happened.  One  by  one  irrele- 
vant details  drop  out,  and  confirmatory  touches  are 
added  to  heighten  the  tints.  As  the  years  pass, 
any  interval  which  may  have  existed  between  the 
vision  and  the  death  tends  to  disappear,  and  the 
two  events  coalesce,  like  a  binary  star,  into  one. 
The  result  actually  presented  to  us  will,  in  such 
cases,  bear  less  resemblance  to  a  photograph  than 
to  a  finished  picture,  in  which  the  crudity  and  inad- 
equacy of  the  actual  are  fulfilled  by  the  unconscious 
craftsmanship  of  the  imagination.  No  process  is 
more  difficult  to  detect  and  guard  against  because 
it  is,  for  the  most  part,  instinctive,  and  involves  no 
conscious  departure  from  good  faith.  The  ability 
to  tell  the  exact  truth  can  only,  as  a  rule,  be  ac- 
quired by  a  severe  process  of  mental  discipline. 

But  it  would  be  easy  to  exaggerate  the  import- 
ance of  these  considerations,  so  far  as  educated 
witnesses  are  concerned.  Narratives  written  within 
a  few  years  of  the  event,  and  corroborated  by  the 
testimony  of  others,  may,  it  is  thought,  be  relied 


spontaneous  Thought  Transference     5 1 

upon  so  far  as  the  central  incident  is  concerned, 
even  if  the  details  are  liable  to  unconscious  embel- 
lishment. Moreover,  the  very  nature  of  the  emo- 
tion aroused  by  the  incident — as  when  the  death  of 
a  dear  friend  is  concerned — may  in  itself  prove  the 
strongest  incentive  to  accuracy.  Taken  as  a  whole 
the  reader  will  probably  agree  that  the  narratives 
here  quoted  bear  on  their  face  the  marks  of  their 
authenticity :  the  witnesses  in  most  cases  have  ob- 
viously been  restrained  in  narrating  their  experiences 
by  a  strong  sense  of  responsibility  and  of  reality. 
And  a  comparison  of  the  first-hand  narratives  here 
quoted  with  each  other,  and  with  the  second-hand 
ghost  stories  bandied  from  mouth  to  mouth  in 
ordinary  social  intercourse,  will  suggest  that  the 
narrators  in  the  former  case  are  describing  with 
fair  accuracy  facts  of  their  own  experience ;  and 
that  those  facts  constitute  a  true  natural  group, 
distinguishable,  alike  by  what  they  include  and  by 
what  they  do  not  include,  from  the  mere  figments 
of  the  story-teller's  imagination,  whether  invented 
for  amusement  or  for  edification. 

The  narratives  which  follow  are  printed  as 
samples,  and  as  samples  only,  of  the  evidences 
accumulated  by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research. 
I  have  as  a  rule  refrained,  lest  I  should  weary  the 
reader,  from  drawing  attention  to  the  evidential 
aspect  of  the  case  ;  and  have,  for  the  same  reason, 
presented  in  most  cases  only  a  brief  summary  of 
the  corroborative  testimony.  I  have  endeavoured, 
however,  in  all  cases,  to  bring  out  any  evidential 


52      Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

defect  in  such  corroborative  testimony ;  and  as  the 
reference  is  always  given  to  the  Society's  Journal 
or  Proceedings,  the  reader  can  in  every  case,  if  he 
pleases,  study  for  himself  the  full  accounts  there 
printed. 

The  following  account  was  sent,  in  French,  to 
the  late  F.  W.  H.  Myers  by  a  well-known  man  of 
science.  Three  years  ago  I  myself  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  discussing  the  incident  with  the  percipient. 
A  fragment  of  a  book  cover,  bearing  the  words 
mentioned,  was  enclosed  with  the  account. 

No.  II.     From  Professor , 

Paris,  nth  December,  1897 

On  Friday,  December  10,  1897,  at  about  10.35  P-^->  being 
alone  and  at  work  in  my  library,  I  began  to  think,  without  any 
reason,  that  there  had  been  a  fire  at  the  Opera.  My  wife  and 
daughter  had  gone  off  to  the  Opera  at  8;  I  had  not  been  able 
to  accompany  them.  The  impression  was  so  strong  that  I 
wrote  F  (Feu!)  on  the  cover  of  a  book  which  lay  near  me.  A 
few  instants  later,  wishing  to  emphasise  this  presentiment,  I 
wrote  "  Att "  (for  attention)  "Fire!"  I  enclose  what  I 
wrote.  I  did  not,  however,  feel  anxious,  but  said  to  myself, 
"  There  has  been  no  great  fire  at  the  Opera,  only  an  alarm 
of  fire." 

At  the  same  time,  or  rather  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  later,  at 
10.55,  "^y  sister,  Madame  B.,  who  lives  in  the  same  house,  and 
whose  bedroom  is  on  the  same  floor  with  my  study,  had  an 
idea  that  my  study  was  on  fire.  She  was  at  the  moment  on 
the  point  of  getting  into  bed,  but  she  came  en  deshabille  to  my 
study-door  and  put  her  hand  on  the  handle  to  come  in;  but 
then,  telling  herself  that  her  fear  was  absurd,  she  went  back  to 
bed.  She  tells  me,  however,  that  she  would  nevertheless  have 
come  in  but  that  she  was  afraid  that  I  had  some  one  with  me  in 
the  room. 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference     53 

At  12.10  my  wife  and  daughter  came  back  from  the  theatre. 
They  instantly  told  me  that  there  had  been  a  sort  of  beginning 
of  a  conflagration.  I  said  nothing,  and  they  told  me  as  fol- 
lows: Between  8.45  and  9,  at  the  end  of  the  first  act  of  Les 
Maitres  Chanteurs,  a  smell  of  burning  and  a  light  smoke  were 
perceived  in  the  auditorium.  My  wife  said  to  my  daughter: 
"  I  will  go  out  and  see  what  is  the  matter  ;  if  I  make  a  sign  to 
you  follow  me  at  once  without  saying  a  word  or  even  waiting 
to  put  your  cloak  on."  The  attendant  whom  she  asked  said 
that  nothing  was  wrong.  Nevertheless  there  was  some  emo- 
tion among  the  audience,  and  five  or  six  persons  in  the  stalls 
got  up  and  went  away.  The  smoke  came,  no  doubt,  from  a 
stove.  Note  that  this  is  the  first  time  that  my  wife  ever  left 
her  seat  in  a  theatre  from  alarm  of  fire.  It  is  the  first  time 
that  I  have  ever  been  anxious  about  fire  in  her  absence,  and  I 
do  not  suppose  that  I  jot  down  my  possible  presentiments  more 
than  five  or  six  times  in  a  year. 

My  sister  has  never  before  been  anxious  about  fire  in  my 
room.' 

It  seems  not  improbable,  especially  as  she  con- 
nected the  danger  with  her  brother,  that  Madame 
B.  was  influenced  through  him,  and  not  through 
her  friends  at  the  opera.  It  should  be  added  that 
the  narrator  has  had  other  experiences  apparently 
of  a  telepathic  character.     -^^ 

In  this  instance  the  transferred  idea,  though  in 
itself  of  a  sufficiently  alarming  character,  was  ap- 
parently almost  without  emotional  accompaniment. 
In  many  cases,  however,  the  profound  emotional 
disturbance  caused  is  the  most  characteristic  feature 
of  the  impression.  In  the  case  which  follows, 
whatever  the  nature  of  the  emotion  excited, — and 

^Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  November,  1898. 


54      Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  consciously  defined 
as  fear  or  anxiety, — it  was  sufficiently  strong  to 
impel  the  percipient  to  a  very  unusual  course  of 
action. 

No.  12.     From  Mr.  T.  B.  Garrison 

Ozark,  Mo.,  July  29,  1896 

My  mother,  Nancy  J.  Garrison,  died  on  Friday  night, 
October  4,  1888,  at  her  home  three  miles  north-east  of  Ozark, 
Christian  County,  Missouri.  She  was  58  years  old.  I  was 
then  living  at  Fordland,  in  Webster  County,  Missouri,  about 
18  miles  north-east  of  my  mother's  home.  I  had  not  seen  my 
mother  for  two  months  at  the  time  of  her  death,  but  had  heard 
from  [her]  by  letter  from  week  to  week. 

On  the  night  of  my  mother's  death  there  was  a  meeting  in 
Fordland,  and  myself  and  wife  attended  the  preaching.  We 
had  then  one  child,  a  baby  a  year  old.  The  meeting  had  been 
going  on  a  week  or  more.  About  ten  o'clock,  just  before  the 
meeting  closed,  while  the  congregation  was  singing,  I  felt  the 
first  desire  to  see  my  mother.  The  thought  of  my  mother  was 
suggested  by  the  sight  of  some  of  the  penitents  at  the  altar, 
who  were  very  warm  and  sweating.  My  mother  was  subject 
to  smothering  spells,  and  while  suffering  from  these  attacks 
she  would  perspire  freely  and  we  had  to  fan  her.  In  the  faces 
of  the  mourners  I  seemed  to  see  my  mother's  suffering.  And 
then  the  impulse  to  go  to  her  became  so  strong  that  I  gave  the 
baby  to  a  neighbour- woman  and  left  the  church  without  telling 
my  wife.     She  was  in  another  part  of  the  house. 

The  train  going  west  which  would  have  taken  me  [to]  Rog- 
ersville,  seven  miles  of  the  distance  to  my  mother's  place,  was 
due  at  10.30  P.M.,  but  before  I  got  home  and  changed  my 
clothes  and  returned  to  the  depot,  the  cars  had  left  the  sta- 
tion. I  still  felt  that  I  must  see  my  mother  and  started  down 
the  railroad  track  alone,  and  walked  to  Rogersville.  Here  I 
left  the  railroad  and  walked  down  the  waggon  way  leading 
from  Marshfield  to  Ozark,  Mo.     It  was  about  3  o'clock  a.m. 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference      55 

when  I  reached  my  mother's  house.  I  knocked  at  the  door 
two  or  three  times  and  got  no  response.  Then  I  kicked  the 
door,  but  still  made  no  one  hear  me.  At  last  I  opened  the 
door  with  my  knife  and  walked  in  and  lighted  a  lamp.  Then 
my  sister,  Mrs.  Billie  Gilley,  the  only  person  who  had  been 
living  with  my  mother,  awoke  and  I  asked  her  where  mother 
was.  She  replied  that  she  was  in  bed,  and  I  said  "  She  is 
dead,"  for  by  that  time  I  felt  that  she  could  not  be  alive. 
She  had  never  failed  to  wake  before  when  I  had  entered  the 
room  at  night. 

I  went  to  my  mother's  bed  and  put  my  hand  on  her  fore- 
head. It  was  cold.  She  had  been  dead  about  three  hours 
the  neighbours  thought  from  the  condition  of  her  body.  She 
had  gone  to  bed  about  ten  o'clock  at  night,  feeling  better  than 
usual.  She  and  my  sister  had  talked  awhile  after  going  to 
bed.  They  were  aiming  to  come  to  Ozark  the  next  morning, 
and  intended  to  get  up  early. 

The  above  facts  cover  my  experience  as  fully  as  I  can  tell 
the  story.  I  have  no  explanation  for  the  matter.  It  is  as 
much  a  mystery  to  me  now  as  ever.  I  could  not  believe  such 
a  strange  affair  if  told  by  any  one  else,  and  yet  I  could  swear 
to  every  fact  stated.   .   .   . 

Thomas  B.  Garrison.' 

Corroboration  of  Mr.  Garrison's  account  has 
been  received  from  his  wife,  his  wife's  mother,  to 
whom  he  announced  his  intention  of  going  to 
Ozark  just  before  he  started  on  the  journey,  and 
from  one  of  the  neighbours  who  were  called  in  to 
assist  when  the  fact  of  the  death  was  discovered. 

With  this  may  be  compared  a  remarkable  case, 
originally  recorded  by  Mr.  Andrew  Lang  in  Long- 
mans Magazine,  in  which  two  persons  indepen- 
dently received  a  strong  impression  that  something 

»  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  October,  1897. 


56      Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

disastrous  had  happened  in  an  Edinburgh  flat.  In 
one  case  the  impression  was  sufficiently  strong  to 
induce  a  neighbour  to  leave  his  work  and  call  to 
make  enquiries.  He  found  that  the  maid-servant 
had  just  been  killed  by  an  accident.^ 

There  are  one  or  two  cases,  resting  on  good 
evidence,  which  suggest  the  possibility  of  com- 
munication between  the  animal  and  the  human 
intelligence.  Thus  Lady  Carbery  writes  that  one 
Sunday,  having  paid  her  usual  visit  after  lunch  to 
a  favourite  mare,  she  had  returned  to  the  garden 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant,  and  sat  herself  down  to 
read.  Twenty  minutes  later,  feeling  an  uncom- 
fortable sensation  that  something  was  amiss  with 
"  Kitty,"  she  returned  to  the  stable,  and  found  her 
"  cast"  and  in  need  of  help.^ 

In  the  following  case  the  impression,  though  not 
referred  to  any  particular  sense,  was  of  a  much 
more  definite  character  than  those  last  cited  : 

No.  13.     From  Mr.  J.  F.  Young 

New  Road,  Llanelly,  March  9,  1891. 

The  following  account  of  a  presentiment  I  recently  had 
may  be  interesting  to  you. 

I  was  having  my  supper  on  the  evening  of  February  15th 
last,  when  a  message  came  from  a  customer  requiring  my  serv- 
ices. I  sent  back  a  reply  that  I  would  come  immediately  I 
had  my  supper.  It  has  always  been  a  strong  point  with  me 
to  keep  my  appointments,  and  therefore,  having  hastily  fin- 
ished my  meal,  I  was  in  the  act  of  leaving  the  table  when  I 
suddenly  exclaimed,  "There!  !  !     I  have  just  had  an  intiraa- 

1  The  case  is  given  in  full  \n  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  June,  1S95. 

2  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  February,  1905. 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference    57 

tion  that  Robert  is  dead  "  :  the  Robert  referred  to  is  a  Robert 
HalLett  (a  brother-in-law)  who  was  residing  near  my  sister 
(Mrs.  Ponting)  at  Sturminster  Newton,  Dorset.  He  had  been 
bed-ridden  from  paralysis  for  this  last  two  years,  but  had 
recently  been  much  worse. 

I  at  once  entered  full  particulars  in  ray  diary.  Date,  Feb. 
15.  Message,  and  time  of  message,  9.40  p.m.  My  sister-in- 
law  was  present  the  whole  time,  and  can  vouch  for  the  cir- 
cumstances. On  the  17th  I  received  a  post-card  from  my 
sister  at  Sturminster  Newton,  bearing  date  Feb.  i6th,  stating, 
that  "Robert  had  passed  away,  will  write  to-morrow." 

In  the  meantime  I  had  written  to  my  sister  Mrs.  Ponting, 
mentioning  my  presentiment,  and  our  letters  crossed,  for  the 
following  morning  a  letter  came  from  her  (I  must  mention 
here  she  had  been  assisting  in  nursing  my  brother-in-law), 
saying,  "  I  was  glad  you  had  a  presentiment  of  poor  Robert's 
release,  he  passed  away  at  7.45  p.m.,  then  Lottie  [my  niece 
Lottie  Hallett]  and  I  came  home  ////  Q.40,  and  that  was  the 
time  you  had  the  impression." 

I  wish  to  state  two  facts  in  connection  with  the  foregoing 
case,  (i)  I  was  not  thinking  of  him  at  the  time,  my  mind 
being  engrossed  in  my  appointment,  and  the  impression 
came  so  startlingly  sudden,  which  caused  me  to  hastily  say? 
There! ! !  .  .  .  as  before  stated;  and  (2)  at  the  same  moment, 
I  had  a  sense  of  a  presence  at  my  left,  so  much  so,  that  I 
looked  sharply  round,  but  found  no  one  there. 

This  was  my  first  and  only  impression  during  his  long 
illness. 

The  note  In  the  diary  is  as  follows^: 

Feb.  15.  As  I  rose  from  supper,  a  message  came,  as  if  by 
spirit  influence,   to   say,  "Robert  has   passed  away."     Miss 

*  The  note  occurs,  not  on  the  dated  pages,  but  on  some  blank  sheets  at 
the  end  of  the  diary,  amongst  other  memoranda.  The  previous  memo,  is 
dated  12th  Feb.,  the  two  following  entries  are  dated,  in  this  order,  Feb. 
28th  and  Feb.  19th.  The  entry  of  the  15th  contains  therefore  no  internal 
evidence  of  having  been  written  at  the  time. 


58      Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

Bennett  present.  I  said,  "  There,  I  have  just  had  an  intima- 
tion Robert  is  dead."  Time,  9.40  p.m.  Noted  full  particulars 
on  my  return:  was  called  away.  Had  to  see  a  customer  on 
business. 

Miss  E.  Bennett,  who  was  present  at  the  moment 
and  Miss  Lottie  Young,  a  niece  to  whom  Mr. 
Young  related  his  experience  on  the  following 
morning,  have  both  confirmed  the  account.  Mrs. 
Pouting  has  searched  unsuccessfully  for  Mr, 
Young's  original  letter  to  her  announcing  his 
presentiment.! 

Mr.  Young,  it  should  be  added,  has  had  several 
similar  impressions  which  have  coincided  with  ex- 
ternal events. 

Let  us  now  pass  on  to  visual  impressions.  The 
following  case  is  interesting  as  showing  the  peculiar 
vividness  with  which  these  mind's  eye  visions 
occasionally  present  themselves. 

No.  14.    From  Miss  C.  P.  M.  C, 
(The  account  was  written  in  the  beginning  of  June,  1889.) 

I  distinctly  saw  a  person  whom  I  knew  (M.  T.)  lying  in 
bed,  and  the  room  and  furniture  exactly  as  I  last  saw  it.  I 
had  the  impression  of  hearing  her  voice.  The  impression  was 
so  vivid  that  for  the  time  it  stopped  my  reading,  and  I  re- 
member being  surprised  at  it  and  wondering  whether  the 
woman  were  alive  or  dead.  I  had  had  a  letter  three  days 
previously  saying  she  was  dying.  She  had  been  an  invalid 
when  I  first  saw  her,  so  that  I  never  knew  her  otherwise  than 
in  bed. 

Place:  probably  in  the  Geological  Museum.  Date:  May 
14,  1889,  Tuesday,  in  the  morning. 

1  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  May,  1901. 


spontaneous  Thought  Transference      59 

I  was  reading  geology  [at  the  time].  I  was  not  out  of 
health,  but  I  was  in  anxiety  on  quite  a  different  subject.' 

M.  T.,  as  we  have  ascertained  from  the  Register 
at  Somerset  House,  died  at  Heaton  Norris  on  the 
14th  May,  1889.  Miss  C.  heard  of  the  death  a 
day  or  two  afterwards,  and  fixed  the  exact  date  of 
her  vision  by  an  entry  in  a  diary,  referring  to  an 
incident  which  she  remembered  to  have  occurred 
on  the  same  day  as  the  vision.  She  added  that 
she  had  had  no  other  experience  which  impressed 
her  so  much  ;  she  had,  however,  a  faint  impression 
of  "  something  Hke  it "  having  occurred  when  she 
was  a  schoolgirl,  but  she  cannot  remember  details. 

In  the  next  case  all  the  details  given  are  trivial, 
but  the  amount  of  correspondence  is  sufficient  to 
make  it  probable  that  the  result  was  not  a  mere 
happy  conjecture  ;  and,  as  we  have  seen  both  the 
original  notes  made  by  the  percipient  and  the  letter 
from  Rome,  it  is  certain  that  the  facts  are  accu- 
rately stated  ;  in  this  respect  the  case  stands  almost 
on  the  evidential  level  of  some  of  the  experiments 
quoted  in  the  last  chapter.  The  following  is  a 
copy,  made  by  Mr.  Piddington,  then  Hon.  Secretary 
of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  of  a  note 
written  by  Mrs.  D.  on  27th  January,  1900. 

No.  15.     From  Mrs.  D. 

Saturday,  Jan.  27,  1900.     This  afternoon  while  I  was  sit- 

•  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  p.  83.  Miss  C.'s  narrative,  it  should  be 
explained,  was  given  in  answer  to  set  questions  contained  on  one  of  our 
"  Census"  forms.     See  below,  chapter  v. 


6o      Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

ting  near  the  fire  talking  to  L.,  I  was  holding  a  small  photo 
of  Mrs.  H.  and  describing  her.  "  Where  is  she  now  ?"  asked 
L.  *'  In  Rome,"  I  answered,  "  settled  for  the  winter."  And  as 
I  spoke,  suddenly  I  felt  conscious  of  what  she  might  be  doing 
at  the  time.  "  Do  you  know,"  I  went  on,  "  I  think  she  must  be 
just  coming  out  of  her  room  on  to  a  high  terrace  such  as  we 
have  here,  only  that  there  is  green  over  it."  L.  did  not  say 
"  nonsense,"  but  just  asked  quietly  :  "  What  is  she  wearing  ? " 
"A  black  skirt,"  I  answered,  "and  a  mauve  blouse — she  is 
looking  out  over  many  roofs  and  spires — and  now  she  has 
gone  back  into  the  room  and  a  maid  is  closing  the  shutters." 
"  Can  you  see  her  room  ? "  asked  L.  "  I  think  it  is  small,  "  I 
said;  "  there  is  a  cottage-piano  and  a  writing-table  near  it. 
I  think  the  large  head  of  Hermes  stands  on  it  and  something 
silver."  And  then  I  felt  nothing  more  and  added:  "What 
nonsense  I  have  been  talking!  "  L.  thinks  there  may  be  some 
truth  in  the  impression,  and  wants  me  to  write  and  ask  Mrs. 
H.  what  she  remembers  of  this  afternoon.  It  was  about 
6  o'clock. 

I  cannot  say  I  saw  anything;  somehow  I  seemed  to  feel 
her  surroundings  were  just  so.  I  have  never  been  to  Rome, 
nor  has  she  told  me  anything  of  where  she  lives  beyond  the 
address. 

Copy  of  extracts  selected  by  J.  G.  P.  from  a  letter  addressed  by 
Mrs.  H.  to  Mrs.  D.    Postmark  of  envelope :''''  62  oo  Roma  " 

....  You  certainly  have  a  power  to  visit  your  friends, 
and  to  see  them,  and  to  make  them  feel  you.  Your  letter  is 
absolutely  startling  and  mysterious.  And  now  I  can  answer 
it  detail  for  detail,  and  item  for  item.  [The  writer  then  avows 
her  belief  in  telepathy  and  clairvoyance.]  .  .  .  That  you 
have  peeped  at  me  in  my  small  Roman  house  is  certainly  a 
fact.  As  you  state  the  facts,  every  small  detail  is  not  altogether 
exact,  but  the  facts  as  a  whole  are  true  and  exact  and  perfect, 
as  you  shall  see. 


Let  me  begin  by  answering  bit  by  bit  all  you  say.     I  have 


spontaneous  Thought  Transference     6i 

a  dear  little  vine-covered  terrace,  looking  out  into  the  Piazza 
di  Spagna,  and  looking  also  right  up  to  the  spires  or  rather 
towers  of  S,  Trinita  dei  Monti,  with  the  great  obelisk  in  front. 
The  afternoon  of  Jan,  27th  I  returned  to  my  home  after  a 
walk  and  [after]  making  a  few  purchases,  at  5  p.  m.  I  took 
off  my  fur  jacquette,  and  went  at  once  into  my  dining-room  to 
see  about  the  dinner-table,  as  three  friends  came  [or  "come"] 
at  7  p.  M.  to  dine.  I  busied  myself  about  the  table  for  some 
time,  then  stepped  on  to  the  terrace  (which  is  so  pretty,  but 
opens,  unfortunately,  from  the  kitchen).  I  went  into  the 
terrace  at  that  time  to  see  about  our  dessert  for  dinner,  which 
I  had  put  there  to  become  cool.  Then  I  went  back  into  the 
dining-room,  and  as  the  hanging-lamp  had  just  been  lighted,  I 
ordered  the  maid  to  drop  the  outside  curtains.  She  did  so. 
I  remember  that  I  looked  just  then  at  the  clock,  and  it  was 
5.35  p.  M.  I  had  on  a  black  skirt,  a  black  silk  blouse,  and 
a  mauve  tie,  which  twisted  about  my  neck  and  hung  in  two 
ends  to  my  waist.  It  looked  to  you  like  a  mauve  blouse. 
Then  I  went  into  our  small  salon  and  took  something  from 
the  table.  I  remember  it  distinctly.  Our  salon  is  very  small; 
there  is  an  upright  piano  and  a  writing-table,  on  which  are 
photos  and  books  too,  and  a  lot  of  little  silver  things.  Hermes 
(your  photo  to  me)  stands  very  near,  on  another  little  table, 
quite  near,  in  fact.  It  is  all  quite  mysterious,  I  believe  you 
have  really  peeped  into  my  house,'  .   ,  . 

Vivid  and  detailed  visions  of  the  kind  given  in 
the  last  two  narratives  are  of  rare  occurrence  with 
persons  in  a  state  of  normal  wakefulness.  The 
early  mesmerists,  both  in  this  country  and  in  France 
and  Germany,  have  recorded  many  cases  where  the 
subject  in  a  state  of  trance  purported  to  have  visions 
of  distant  scenes  and  of  the  persons  taking-  part  in 
them:  and  these  descriptions  were  in  many  cases 

•  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  October,  1906. 


62      Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

subsequently  verified.  To  the  facuky  supposed  to 
be  thus  demonstrated  the  name  of  "travehing  clair- 
voyance" was  given  by  the  English  mesmerists,  it 
being  assumed  that  the  spirit  of  the  percipient  left 
the  body  and  was  actually  present  in  some  fashion 
at  the  scene  described.  Even  if  we  accept  the  facts, 
there  is  of  course  no  need  to  adopt  so  fantastic  an 
explanation.  From  our  ignorance,  however,  of  the 
attendant  circumstances,  and  especially  of  the  op- 
portunities which  may  have  offered  for  fraud,  it  is 
difficult  to  place  much  reliance  on  these  older 
records.  A  few  similar  cases  have,  however,  been 
recorded  by  competent  observers  in  recent  years: 
one  or  two  examples  are  quoted  in  chapter  xiv. 

But  outside  of  the  hypnotic  trance  the  most 
favourable  conditions  for  clairvoyance  of  this  kind 
appear  to  be  found  in  crystal  vision.  It  is  not  quite 
clear  what  part  the  crystal  plays  in  facilitating  the 
emergence  of  these  dream-visions.  The  quietness 
and  freedom  from  external  distraction  no  doubt 
contribute  to  the  result.  But  it  seems  probable 
that  the  mere  act  of  fixing  the  gaze  and  the  atten- 
tion on  a  bright  object  is  liable  to  induce  slight  dis- 
sociation of  consciousness.  Further  it  is  likely  that 
in  some  cases  the  crystal  furnishes  2^  point  de  replre 
— a  nucleus  of  actual  sensation — round  which  the 
imaginary  scene  is  built  up. 

Mr.  Andrew  Lang  has  within  the  last  few  years 
collected  amongst  his  acquaintances  many  instances 
of  scrying  or  crystal  vision,  from  which  I  select  the 
following  : 


spontaneous  Thought  Transference     63 

No.   16.     From  Miss  Angus' 

4th  January,  1898. 

I  had  another  successful  scry  on  Tuesday   evening,  21st 

December,  1897,  when  Mr.  Mac asked  me  to  look  in  the 

ball.  He  had  never  seen  crystal  gazing,  so  I  told  him  to  fix 
his  mind  on  some  scene,  which  I  would  endeavour  to  describe. 
Almost  at  once  I  saw  a  large  room  with  a  polished  floor  reflected, 
the  lights  being  very  bright  and  all  round  ;  but  the  room  was 

empty,  which  I  thought  very  uninteresting!    Mr.  Mac said 

how  strange  that  was,  as  he  had  not,  so  far,  been  able  to  fix 
his  mind  on  any  particular  face  in  the  ballroom.  However, 
he  asked  me  to  look  again,  and  this  time  I  saw  a  smaller  room, 
very  comfortably  furnished,  and  at  a  small  table  under  a  bright 
light  with  a  glass  globe  (no  shade  on  the  globe)  sat  a  young 
girl,  in  a  high-necked  white  blouse,  apparently  writing  or  read- 
ing. I  could  not  see  her  face  distinctly,  but  she  was  pale,  with 
her  hair  drawn  softly  off  her  forehead  (no  fringe),  and  seemed 
to  have  rather  small  features. 

Mr.  Mac said  my  description  quite  tallied  with  the  lady 

he  was  thinking  of,   a  Miss  ,  whom  he  had  met  for  the 

first  time  at  a  ball  a  few  nights  before,  but  he  had  meant  me  to 
see  her  dressed  as  he  met  her  in  the  ballroom. 

We  consulted  our  watches,  and  found  that  it  was  between 

10.15  ^'^d  10-30  when  we  were  scrying,  and  Mr.  Mac said 

he  would  try  to  find  out  what  Miss was  doing  at  that  hour. 

Fortunately  I  had  not  long  to  wait  for  his  report,  as  he  met 
her  the  next  evening,  and  told  her  of  my  experiment.  She  was 
very  much  interested,  I  believe,  and  said  it  was  all  quite  true! 
She  had  been  wearing  a  white  blouse,  and,  as  far  as  she  re- 
members, she  was  still  reading  at  10.30  under  a  bright  incan- 
descent light,  with  a  glass  globe  on  it. 

Mr.  Mac writes: 

December  30,  1897. 
I  was  at  Miss  Angus's  house  on  Tuesday,  December  21st, 
1897.     Miss  Angus  said  that  if  I  thought  of  somebody  she 
•  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  May,  1899. 


64     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

would  look  in  her  crystal  ball  and  find  out  the  personal  ap- 
pearance of  the  person  of  whom  I  was  thinking,  and  what  he 
or  she  was  doing  at  that  moment  (10.25  P-M.).  She  told  me 
to  think  of  the  surroundings  and  the  place  in  which  I  had  last 
seen  the  person  of  whom  I  was  thinking.  I  thought  of  some- 
body that  she  did  not  know — Miss ,  whom  I  had  met  at  a 

dance  on  December  20th.  I  thought  of  the  ballroom  where  I 
had  been  introduced  to  her,  but  at  first  I  could  not  centre  my 
mind  on  her  face.  Then  Miss  A.  said  that  she  saw  a  big  room 
with  a  polished  floor,  and  which  was  brilliantly  lit  up,  but  that 
at  present  she  could  not  make  out  any  people  there.     Then  I 

succeeded  in  fixing  my  mind  on  Miss 's  face,  when  Miss 

A.  said  that  she  saw  a  girl  with  fair  wavy  hair  either  writing  a 
letter  or  reading,  but  probably  the  former,  under  a  lamp  with 
a  glass  globe,  and  that  she  had  a  high-necked  white  blouse  on. 
All  this  took  about  five  minutes. 

I  saw  Miss again  at  a  dance  on  December  22d — the 

next  night.  I  told  her  what  had  happened,  and  she  said  that, 
as  far  as  she  remembered,  at  10.25  the  night  before  she  had 
been  either  writing  a  letter  or  reading,  but  probably  writing, 
under  an  incandescent  gas-light  with  a  glass  globe,  and  that  she 
had  been  wearing  a  high-necked  white  blouse, 

I  had  only  known  Miss  Angus  for  a  very  short  time,  so  she 

did  not  know  what  friends  I  had  in .    I  do  not  think  that 

Miss  Angus  knows  Miss .    There  were  three  other  people 

in  the  room  all  the  time,  one  of  whom  was  playing  the 
piano.  This  is  exactly  what  happened,  as  far  as  I  can 
remember. 

Sometimes  the  part  of  the  crystal  is  taken  by  a 
glass  of  water,  or  other  shining  surface.  We  have 
a  narrative  from  the  wife  of  an  engine-driver  who, 
waking  up  at  3  a.m.  one  night,  saw  in  a  glass  of 
water  by  her  bedside  a  vision  of  a  railway  accident. 
At  about  that  time  her  husband  was  actually  passing 
near  the  scene  of  an  accident,  similar  to  the  scene 


spontaneous  Thought  Transference     65 

in  the  water  vision,  which  had  occurred  a  few  hours 
previously.^ 

In  the  following  case  it  may  be  conjectured  that 
the  conditions  of  a  spiritualist  seance,  the  quiet- 
ness, the  freedom  from  preoccupation,  and  the 
partial  darkness  were  favourable  to  the  emergence 
of  a  clairvoyant  vision. 

For  the  evidence  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  W.  W. 
Baggally,  of  No.  23  Lower  Phillimore  Place,  Ken- 
sington, W.,  a  member  of  the  Society,  who  is 
acquainted  with  the  principal  witnesses  in  the  case 
and  has  full  confidence  in  their  integrity. 
No.  17.     From  Mr.  John  Polley,' 

95  Church  St.,  Stoke  Newington, 

London,  N.,  June,  1901. 

At  a  stance  held  within  the  sound  of  Big  Ben  on  May  8th, 
1 901,  there  were  present  Mrs.  E.  V.  M.,  Mr.  Thomas  Atwood, 
and  myself.  As  Mr.  Atwood  resumed  his  seat  after  delivering 
an  invocation  (about  8.30  p.m.),  I  became  aware  of  a  vision, 
which  presented  itself  on  the  left  of  where  I  was  seated.  The 
scene  appeared  as  being  some  5  feet  distant  from  me,  and  dis- 
played part  of  the  interior  of  a  room,  viz.,  that  part  where  the 
stove  stood.  The  fire  in  the  stove  was  small  and  dull,  and  close 
beside  it  was  an  overturned  chair.  In  front  of  the  fire  was 
something  that  looked  like  a  lire-guard  or  clothes-horse,  but 
this  was  not  quite  clear  to  me.  Playing  or  climbing  over  this 
article  was  a  child,  who  fell  forward,  and,  when  it  regained  its 
feet,  I  noticed  that  its  dress  was  on  fire. 

I  made  no  reference  to  the  matter  at  the  time,  as  I  had  an 
impression  that  the  vision  might  be  connected  with  some  oc- 
currence in  the  family  of  Mrs.  M.,  and  I  was  averse  to 
mentioning  it  for  fear  of  awaking  sad  memories. 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  December,  1903. 
^Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  January,  1902. 
5 


66     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

After  some  manifestations  of  movements  of  the  table  round 
which  we  were  seated  the  whole  vision  was  repeated,  and  this 
time  I  had  an  uncontrollable  impulse  to  speak.  Upon  my 
describing  what  I  had  just  seen  for  the  second  time,  I  was 
much  relieved  to  hear  that  the  matter  was  not  recognised  as 
being  connected  in  any  way  with  the  sitters.  I  may  mention 
here  that  the  child  appeared  to  be  about  three  years  old,  and, 
judging  from  the  style  of  dress,  I  described  it  as  a  girl,  although 
the  vision  would  apply  equally  well  to  a  boy,  as,  at  that  early 
age,  the  short  clothes  worn  by  both  sexes  would  be  very 
similar. 

Next  Thursday  morning.  May  9th,  1901,  upon  awakening,  I 
described  to  my  wife  the  events  of  the  previous  evening's 
seance.  On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  viz.,  Thursday, 
May  9th,  I  was  out  with  a  friend,  and  upon  my  return  home 
at  1 1.5  P.M.  my  sister,  Mary  Louisa  Polley  (who  resided  with 
me  at  that  time),  made  the  remark,  "  I  have  a  piece  of  bad 
news  for  you,  Jack."  "Well,"  I  replied,  "what  is  it?  let  me 
know,"  and  she  answered,  "  Brother  George's  little  son  Jackie 
has  been  burned  to  death."  Like  a  flash  I  realised  the  con- 
nection of  the  sad  event  with  my  vision  of  the  previous  night. 
I  then  asked  her  (my  sister),  "  How  did  you  know  this,  and 
when?"  She  replied,  "Mr.  Fred  Sinnett  told  me  when  he 
came  over  to  see  us  this  evening."  John  Polley. 

Mr.  Policy's  statement  is  confirmed  by  the  other 
sitters  at  the  seance,  by  his  wife  and  sister,  and  by 
the  father  of  the  child.  The  accident  happened  on 
May  7th,  and  the  child  died  before  noon  on  the 
following  day,  the  day  of  the  seance.  Mr.  Fred  G. 
Polley,  the  father  of  the  child,  explained  that  he 
sent  no  intimation  to  his  brother  of  the  accident  or 
death  until  Thursday,  May  9th. 

In  the  cases  so  far  cited,  where  the  impression 
has  been  sufficiently  definite  to  evoke  a  specific 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference      67 

sense-image,  that  image  has  been  of  a  visual  type. 
The  percipient's  experience  has  not  indeed  been  of 
such  a  character  as  to  lead  him  to  mistake  what  he 
saw  for  external  reality — he  has  not  been  the  sub- 
ject of  a  hallucination.  Nevertheless  he  has  seen 
something,  if  only,  as  we  may  say,  with  the  mind's 
eye.  This  is  the  commonest  and  the  most  impres- 
sive form  assumed  by  these  messages,  when  they 
fall  below  the  level  of  actual  hallucination.  More 
rarely,  the  telepathic  impulse  expresses  itself  as  an 
inner  voice,  or  other  articulate  sound.  Impressions 
of  this  character  are  as  a  rule  less  evidentially  con- 
clusive than  those  affecting  the  sense  of  sight :  they 
contain  less  detail ;  it  is  difficult  to  eliminate  the 
possibility  of  an  external  cause  ;  and  even  when  it 
is  certain  that  the  impression  was  subjective,  the 
words  frequently  consist  only  of  the  percipient's 
own  name.  In  the  following  case,  however,  the 
correspondence  appears  to  be  sufficiently  detailed 
to  exclude  the  operation  of  chance  :  and  the  coin- 
cidence, it  will  be  seen,  is  attested  by  a  post-card 
written  before  the  correspondence  was  known. 

No.  18.     From  Frau  U., 

21st  February,  1902. • 

On  the  evening  of  February  25,  1897,  I  was  sitting  alone,  as 
I  almost  invariably  did,  and  reading,  when  I  suddenly  thought 
of  the  Beethoven  Trio,  Op.  i.  No.  i,  so  vividly  that  I  got  up 
to  look  for  the  music,  which  I  had  not  touched  for  nearly 
twenty  years.     It  was  just  as  if  I  could  hear  the  'cello  and 

'  yournal,  S.  P.  R.,  May,  1903.  The  account  in  the  text  is  translated  from 
the  original  German. 


68      Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

violin  parts,  and  the  bowing  and  expression  seemed  to  me  to 
be  that  of  two  gentlemen  who  had  played  with  me  often  in  C. 
so  many  years  before.  One  of  them,  Kammermusiken  L.,  first 
'cellist  of  the  Residenz  Theatre  in  C,  had  been  my  eldest 
son's  master,  but  had  been  called  to  H.  in  1878.  The  other, 
who  was  employed  by  my  husband  at  that  time,  as  clerk  of  the 
works,  had  subsequently  quitted  C.  also,  and  removed  in  the 
middle  of  the  nineties  to  H.  I  had  often  seen  him  since  he 
left  C,  and  had  also  played  duets  with  him,  but  never  again  in 
a  trio.  I  got  out  the  piano  part  and  began  to  play.  I  must 
here  admit  that  I  had  played  with  Z.  and  L.  principally  the 
Trio  in  B  sharp.  Op.  97,  and  the  one  in  C  fiat,  Op.  i,  No.  3, 
and  was  myself  surprised  that  this  Op.  i,  No.  i,  which  we  had 
hardly  ever  played,  was  ringing  in  my  ears.  At  any  rate  I 
heard  with  my  mental  ear  this  melody  so  exactly  that  I  played 
the  piece  right  through  to  the  end. 

About  ten  o'clock  the  bell  rang  and  my  house-mate,  the 
daughter  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  G.,  who  lived  over  me,  came 
in.  She  apologised  for  her  late  visit  and  assured  me  that  she 
could  not  sleep  until  she  had  found  out  what  I  had  been  play- 
ing. I  supplied  the  information,  and  she  remarked,  "  Well, 
what  brought  that  into  your  head  ? "  "I  don't  know.  I 
have  n't  opened  the  book  for  twenty  years,  but  before  I  began 
I  heard  Z.  and  L.  playing  and  I  felt  I  must  recall  the  full 
harmony." 

The  next  day  but  one  the  enclosed  card  came  ;  it  had  been 
written,  as  we  established  by  subsequent  correspondence,  on 
the  same  evening  and  at  the  same  time,  and  as  the  postmark 
shows,  delivered  [in  Kiel]  the  following  [should  be  "  the  next 
but  one  "]  morning. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  post-card  : 

H.,  25  Feb.,  '97. 
After  playing  Beethoven  Op.  i,  No.  i,  we  send  you  hearty 
greetings  in  remembrance  of  happy  hours  spent  together  in 
the  past.  Z.,  R.  L. 


spontaneous  Thought  Transference     69 

The  card  bears  the  postmark  "  H -26. 2.97.  8-9 
V  "  (V  =  A.M.)  Fraulein  G.  writes  that  she  remem- 
bers Frau  U.  playing  the  piece  in  question  ;  and 
that  Frau  U.  told  her  that  she  had  not  played  it 
for  many  years.  This  incident  is  fully  discussed  in 
the  Jourfial  for  May,  1903,  and  from  the  more  de- 
tailed account  there  given  it  seems  clear  that  the 
coincidence  was  not  due  to  ordinary  association  of 
ideas  or  to  any  external  suggestion. 

We  have  a  few  examples  of  sensations  of  smell, 
touch,  or  pain  which  appear  to  have  originated  by 
thought  transference. 

One  example  of  the  last  category  maybe  quoted. 
The  percipient's  experience,  it  may  be  thought, 
was,  as  described,  sufficiently  vivid  and  lifelike  to 
be  reckoned  as  an  actual  sensation  ;  and  the  fact 
that  she  employed  physical  remedies  for  it  would 
seem  to  confirm  this  view.  It  is  here  classed,  how- 
ever, with  mental  impressions,  because  with  sensa- 
tions of  a  tactile  or  a  painful  nature  we  have  not  the 
same  criterion  as  we  possess  in  the  case  of  affections 
of  the  hicrher  senses  to  distinoruish  between  what  is 

o  o 

due  to  an  external  cause,  and  what  is  purely  sub- 
jective. The  feeling  of  pain,  especially,  is  so  fre- 
quently excited  by  causes  within  the  organism  that 
in  many  cases  it  must  remain  a  matter  of  doubt 
whether  to  seek  for  the  origin  of  the  discomfort 
within  or  without. 

No.  19. 

Mrs.  Castle  writes  from  Minneapolis  in  May,  1896^: 

•  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  October,  1898. 


yo     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

On  the  first  day  of  last  July  (1895),  while  resting  late  in  the 
afternoon,  I  suddenly  experienced  a  constrictive  sensation  in 
my  throat,  accompanied  by  a  numbness,  which  increased  for 
some  time,  and  finally  became  so  distressing  that  I  bathed  and 
rubbed  my  throat  several  times — while  dressing,  soon  after  it 
began, — using  also  a  mental  treatment  (in  which  I  am  a  firm 
believer).  I  could  discover  no  cause  within  myself  for  such  a 
sensation,  which  was  unlike  anything  I  had  ever  experienced 
before.  It  occurred  to  me  that  it  might  be  due  to  some  in- 
fluence outside  of  myself,  and  I  thought  of  my  husband  with 
some  anxiety,  but  I  remember  that  the  fear  for  his  safety 
was  dissipated  by  the  ludicrous  thought  that  nothing  but  a 
"hanging"  would  be  an  excuse  for  such  symptoms.  I  thought 
also  of  a  friend  (Mrs.  Baldwin)  who  was  stopping  with  me  at 
the  time.  She  had  gone  out  that  afternoon,  and  was  not  in 
the  house  when  this  occurred. 

A  stiff  collar  had  been  a  source  of  annoyance  to  her  fre- 
quently, and  I  thought  of  that  as  a  possible  cause  for  my  dis- 
comfort, knowing  that  she  was  wearing  a  freshly  laundried 
shirt-waist  at  the  time.  She  came  in  for  a  few  moments  to 
announce  her  intention  of  dining  out,  and  I  asked  her  if  her 
collar  had  made  her  uncomfortable  that  afternoon.  She  as- 
sured me  to  the  contrary,  and  I  told  her  of  my  strange  experi- 
ence. We  discussed  it  while  she  was  in,  and  soon  after  she 
left  Mr.  Castle  (my  husband)  came  home  to  dinner. 

Mr.  Castle's  account  of  his  experience  is  as 
follows : 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  first  day  of  July,  1895,  I  unex- 
pectedly had  an  operation  performed  on  my  throat  by  Dr. 
Bell. 

To  allow  for  the  passing  off  of  the  effects  of  anaesthetic  used 
in  my  throat  he  told  me  to  remain  quiet  awhile  after  the  oper- 
ation. But  I  thought  I  could  save  time  by  sitting  in  the  bar- 
ber's chair,  and  so  walked  about  —  yards  to  a  barber's  shop. 
There  I  was  soon  seized  with   a  terrible  choking  sensation 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference      71 

which  frightened  the  barber  and  myself  very  greatly.  I  re- 
mained sitting  there  nearly  an  hour  before  I  could  go  on.  On 
arriving  home  about  6  p.m.  I  told  Mrs.  Castle  that  I  came  near 
getting  in  a  bad  fix.  On  her  asking  "  When  ? "  I  said 
"About  an  hour  and  a  half  ago."  She  then  described  her 
sudden  constricted  sensation  about  that  same  time,  and  her 
telling  Mrs.  Baldwin  of  it. 

This  is  the  only  time  I  have  had  such  a  sensation  in  my 
throat. 

Mr,  Castle  adds  that  there  have  been  other  ap- 
parent instances  of  thought  transference  between 
himself  and  Mrs.  Castle. 

Mrs.  Baldwin  writes  to  say  that  she  remembers 
the  incident  described. 

The  narrative  recalls  the  experimental  cases  of 
"  community  of  sensation "  referred  to  in  the  last 
chapter.  But  here  agent  and  percipient  instead  of 
being  in  the  same  room  were  several  miles  apart. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  the  present  case,  as  in  our 
own  experiments,  the  discomfort  caused  appears  to 
have  been  by  no  means  of  an  ideal  character.  In 
another  case  of  the  kind  Mr.  E.  E.  Robinson  tells 
us  that  lying  in  bed  one  Sunday  morning  he  ex- 
perienced an  acute  pain  in  his  thumb,  and  held  up 
the  hand  to  see  if  it  had  actually  been  injured.  At 
the  moment  Mrs.  Robinson,  who  was  dressing, 
exclaimed  that  her  thumb  hurt  her  so  much  as  to 
cause  difficulty  in  dressing.^ 

It  occasionally  happens  that  the  influence  of  a 
distant  friend  appears  to  be  reflected,  not  in  the 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  May,  1907. 


72     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

percipient's  consciousness,  but  in  his  actions.  The 
cases  are  too  numerous  to  allow  us  to  dismiss  them 
as  merely  chance  correspondence.  But  we  are  not 
bound  to  conclude  that  the  telepathic  impulse  has 
power  directly  to  affect  the  muscular  system.  In 
accordance  with  the  view  already  suggested,  that 
telepathy  operates  more  readily  on  the  subcon- 
sciousness, or,  if  we  prefer  so  to  phrase  it,  on  the 
lower  cerebral  centres,  we  may  suppose  that  so  far 
as  the  agent  is  concerned  the  process  of  transmis- 
sion is  alike  in  all  cases;' and  that  it  is  the  percip- 
ient's organism  which  is  responsible  for  translating 
the  transmitted  impulse  now  into  an  idea,  now  into 
an  action.  The  most  striking  illustrations  of  this 
kind  of  thought  transference  are  to  be  found  in  au- 
tomatic writing.  The  subject  of  automatic  writing 
however,  is  complicated  with  other  considerations, 
and  it  will  probably  be  better  to  defer  dealing  with 
it  until  a  later  chapter.  The  following  case,  how- 
ever, may  be  cited  in  this  connection,  since  it 
appears  clear  that  the  news  communicated  did  not 
rise  to  consciousness  until  in  the  act  of  utterance. 

No.  20.   From  Archdeacon  Bruce* 

St.  Woolos'  Vicarage,  Newport, 
Monmouthshire,  July  6th,  i8g2. 

On  April  19th,  Easter  Tuesday,  I  went  to  Ebbw  Vale  to 
preach  at  the  opening  of  a  new  iron  church  in  Beaufort  parish. 

I  had  arranged  that  Mrs.  Bruce  and  my  daughter  should 
drive  in  the  afternoon. 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  December,  1893. 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference      73 

The  morning  service  and  public  luncheon  over,  I  walked  up 
to  the  Vicarage  at  Ebbw  Vale  to  call  on  the  Vicar.  As  I  went 
there  I  heard  the  bell  of  the  new  church  at  Beaufort  ringing  for 
afternoon  service  at  3.  It  had  stopped  some  little  time  before 
I  reached  the  Vicarage  (of  Ebbw  Vale).  The  Vicar  was  out, 
and  it  struck  me  that  I  might  get  back  to  the  Beaufort  new 
church  in  time  to  hear  some  of  the  sermon  before  my  train  left 
(at  4.35).  On  my  way  back  through  Ebbw  Vale,  and  not  far 
from  the  bottom  of  the  hill  on  which  the  Ebbw  Vale  Vicarage 
is  placed,  I  saw  over  a  provision  shop  on  e  of  those  huge,  staring 
Bovril  advertisements — the  familiar  large  ox-head.  I  had  seen 
fifty  of  them  before,  but  something  fascinated  me  in  connec- 
tion with  this  particular  one.  I  turned  to  it,  and  was  moved  to 
address  it  in  these,  my  ipsissima  verba:  "You  ugly  brute, 
don't  stare  at  me  like  that:  has  some  accident  happened  to  the 
wife?"  Just  the  faintest  tinge  of  uneasiness  passed  through 
me  as  I  spoke,  but  it  vanished  at  once.  This  must  have  been 
as  nearly  as  possible  3.20.  I  reached  home  at  6  to  find  the 
vet.  in  my  stable-yard  tending  my  poor  horse,  and  Mrs.  Bruce 
and  my  daughter  in  a  condition  of  collapse  in  the  house.  The 
accident  had  happened — so  Mrs.  Bruce  thinks — precisely  at 
3.30,  but  she  is  not  confident  of  the  moment.  My  own  times  I 
can  fix  precisely. 

I  had  no  reason  to  fear  any  accident,  as  my  coachman  had 
driven  them  with  the  same  horse  frequently,  and  save  a  little 
freshness  at  starting,  the  horse  was  always  quiet  on  the  road, 
even  to  sluggishness.  A  most  unusual  occurrence  set  it  off. 
A  telegraph  operator,  at  the  top  of  a  telegraph  post,  hauled  up 
a  long  flashing  coil  of  wire  under  the  horse's  nose.  Any  horse 
in  the  world,  except  the  Troy  horse,  would  have  bolted  under 
the  circumstances. 

My  wife's  estimate  of  the  precise  time  can  only  be  taken  as 
approximate.  She  saw  the  time  when  she  got  home,  and  took 
that  as  her  zero,  but  the  confusion  and  excitement  of  the  walk 
home  from  the  scene  of  the  accident  leaves  room  for  doubt  as 
to  her  power  of  settling  the  time  accurately.  The  accident 
happened  about  2\  miles  from  home,  and  she  was  home  by 


74     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

4.10;  but  she  was  some  time  on  the  ground  waiting  until  the 
horse  was  disengaged,  etc. 

W.  CONYBEARE  BrUCE. 

Archdeacon  Bruce  adds  later  : 

May  20th,  1893. 
I  think  I  stated  the  fact  that  the  impression  of  danger  to 
Mrs.  Bruce  was  only  momentary — it  passed  at  once — and  it 
was  only  when  I  heard  of  the  accident  that  I  recalled  the  im- 
pression. I  did  not  therefore  go  home  expecting  to  find  that 
anything  had  happened.  W.  Conybeare  Bruce. 

Mrs.  Bruce  writes : 

The  first  thought  that  flashed  across  me  as  the  accident 
happened  was,  "What  will  W.  say?"  My  ruling  idea  then 
was  to  get  home  before  my  husband,  so  as  to  save  him  alarm. 

In  this  case,  it  will  be  noticed,  the  pictorial  ad- 
vertisement appears  to  have  played  an  analogous 
part  to  the  crystal  in  a  crystal  vision. 

We  have  a  few  other  examples  in  which  the  im- 
pulse has  led  directly  to  action — prayer,  the  taking 
of  a  journey,  etc.  M.  Flammarion  in  his  book, 
U  Inconiiti  et  les  problhnes  psychiques,  quotes  a 
curious  case.  The  narrator,  after  explaining  that  in 
childhood  he  was  "encore  un  peu  devot,"  and  in  the 
habit  of  saying  his  prayers  nightly,  relates  that  one 
evening,  when  twelve  years  of  age,  he  prayed  for 
his  grandmother  with  unusual  fervour,  and  on  clos- 
ing his  eyes  had  a  vision  of  that  relative.  The  next 
day  he  learned  that  his  grandmother  had  died 
at  that  hour.     The  effect  of  that  experience  on  its 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference     75 

subject  offers  a  curious  example  of  perverted  logic. 
"  Depuis  ce  moment,"  he  concludes,  "comme  je 
m'etais  adresse  a  Dieu  pour  me  conserver  ma 
grand'mere  longtemps,  et  qu'il  ne  m'a  pas  exauce, 
j'ai  cesse  avec  raison  de  croire  en  lui." 


CHAPTER  IV 

SPONTANEOUS  THOUGHT  TRANSFERENCE  :   COINCIDENT 

DREAMS 

THE  belief  that  in  sleep  are  revealed  things 
hidden  from  the  common  daylight  is  coeval 
probably  with  the  beginnings  of  human  history. 
The  savage  cult  of  spirits  and  the  belief  in  survival 
after  death  are  traced  by  modern  anthropologists 
to  the  mysterious  visions  of  dream-life.  The 
dreamer  and  the  interpreter  of  dreams  are  alike 
held  in  high  honour  amongst  primitive  races  : 
and  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  that 
soothsaying  by  dreams  is  not  even  yet  obsolete  in 
our  own  and  other  civilised  countries. 

Now  it  may  be  claimed  that  the  hypothesis  of 
telepathy  has  given  a  new  meaning  to  the  interpre- 
tation of  dreams.  It  was  no  doubt  the  frequent 
occurrence  in  dreams  of  mysterious  correspondences 
with  things  actually  happening  in  the  world  outside 
the  dreamer's  mind  which  first  called  attention  to 
the  subject:  and  in  sleep,  if  anywhere,  we  may  ex- 
pect to  find  traces  of  the  operation  of  telepathy,  for 
the  quiescence  and  almost  complete  freedom  from 
external  disturbance  which  characterise  that  state 
are  precisely  the  conditions  which  are  indicated  as 
favourable  to  the  reception  of  stimuli  so  weak  as 
are  presumably  these  messages  from  other  minds. 
76 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference      77 

We  have  evidence,  of  course,  that  other  stimuH, 
too  faint  to  make  their  presence  known  in  the 
tumult  of  our  waking  hours,  frequently  emerge  into 
consciousness  in  sleep.  In  this  way  we  seem  to 
revert  in  dreamful  sleep  to  a  more  primitive  stage 
of  consciousness,  which  was  ours,  perhaps,  far  back 
in  planetary  history,  before  our  lives  were  sharply 
divided  up  into  alternating  periods  of  helpless  slum- 
ber and  waking  activity.  But,  though  in  the  study 
of  dreams  we  may  find  interesting  and  valuable 
illustrations  of  the  working  of  telepathy,  the  de- 
monstration of  a  supersensuous  mode  of  communica- 
tion between  mind  and  mind  rests  primarily,  as  has 
already  been  said,  upon  the  experimental  results  of 
which  brief  samples  have  been  given  in  a  previous 
chapter.  For  dream-coincidences,  however  strik- 
ing, can  in  themselves  afford  even  less  support  to 
the  theory  than  the  waking  visions  dealt  with  in  the 
last  chapter.  For  this  evidential  inferiority  there 
are  several  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  dreams  are 
as  the  sands  on  the  seashore  in  number ;  many 
persons  have  dreams  every  night  of  their  lives.  St. 
Augustine  tells  us  in  his  Confessions  that  a  wise 
friend  warned  him  that  astrology  was  a  false  science. 
"  Of  whom,"  said  the  Saint,  "  when  I  had  demanded 
how  then  could  many  true  things  be  foretold  of  it, 
he  answered  me,  *  that  the  force  of  chance  diffused 
throughout  the  whole  order  of  things  brought  this 
about.'  "  The  force  of  chance  still  operates,  and 
undoubtedly  many  dream-coincidences  must  be  at- 
tributed to  normal   causes.     In  the  second  place, 


78     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

most  dreams  leave  but  a  slight  impression  on  the 
mind  even  of  the  dreamer  ;  and  the  memory  of  them 
is  usually  very  vague  and  elusive.  There  is  a  seri- 
ous risk,  therefore,  that  when  the  partial  cor- 
respondence of  a  dream  with  some  external  event 
comes  to  be  known,  the  details  of  the  indefinite 
picture  preserved  in  the  memory  may  be  filled  in 
to  suit  the  facts — a  process,  it  may  be  added,  which 
implies  no  want  of  honesty  on  the  part  of  the 
narrator ;  most  of  us  probably  "  improve "  our 
dreams  unconsciously  even  on  the  first  telling. 
Again  the  indefiniteness  of  dream  memories  comes 
partly  from  the  fact,  as  already  said,  that  the 
original  impressions  are  in  most  cases  weak ;  partly 
from  the  circumstance  that  the  dream,  unlike  a 
vision  seen  with  the  eyes  open,  has  no  relations 
either  in  time  or  space,  and  forms  no  part  in  an 
associated  chain  of  memories.  This  last  objection 
does  not,  of  course,  apply  to  dreams  which  occur  in 
a  brief  sleep  in  the  daytime  ;  and  it  is  worthy  of 
note  that  we  have  in  our  collection  several  remark- 
able coincidental  dreams,  of  unusual  vividness, 
which  have  occurred  in  such  brief  moments  of 
slumber  snatched  from  the  waking  hours. 

From  all  this  it  follows  that  only  those  dreams 
are  worthy  of  record  in  this  connection  which  were 
noted  down  before  their  correspondence  with  the 
event  was  known,  or  which  were  at  least  told  to 
some  one  else  beforehand.  In  any  case,  in  a  dream- 
story,  the  interval  between  its  occurrence  and  the 
committal  of  it  to  writinsf  should  be  of  the  briefest. 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference     79 

Again,  dreams  are  of  little  account  unless  the  co- 
incidence is  very  striking,  and  unless  the  dreams 
themselves  are  distinguished  from  the  common 
ruck  of  our  nightly  visitants  by  some  unusual 
quality — e.  g.,  by  their  superior  vividness  or  by 
the  intensity  of  the  emotion  which  accompanies 
them. 

B  even  when  the  dream  is  well  attested,  when 
the  experience  was  unusually  vivid,  and  the  coinci- 
dence striking,  there  are  many  cases  in  which  the 
dream  can  be  explained  by  normal  causes.  There 
are,  for  instance,  several  dreams  in  our  collection 
dealing  with  lost  property  ;  a  brooch  hidden  under 
leaves  and  loose  gravel  in  the  garden,  a  box  of 
stolen  property  secreted  by  burglars  in  the  coal 
cellar — to  quote  two  instances  only — have  been  re- 
covered through  dreams.  But  in  cases  of  this  kind 
it  is  probable  that  the  dream  may  be  founded  on 
slight  indications  actually  seen  by  the  eyes,  which 
failed  in  the  crowd  of  waking  sensations  to  gain 
attention  at  the  time,  and  did  not  actually  emerge 
into  consciousness  until  sleep  offered  a  vacant  op- 
portunity. Again,  we  have  a  case  in  which  an 
American  bank  director  was  awakened  from  his 
sleep  by  the  noise  of  a  heavy  explosion,  dressed 
himself,  and  went  out  in  the  town  to  see  what  had 
happened.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  on  that 
very  night  the  safe  at  a  bank  thirty  miles  away  in 
which  he  had  a  large  interest  was  blown  up  by 
dynamite,  I  should  hesitate,  in  view  of  the  fre- 
quency of  unexplained  noises,  to  ascribe  a  dream 


8o     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

of  this  kind  to  telepathy.  Again,  a  neighbour  of 
mine  on  the  night  of  June  24-25,  1894,  dreamt  that 
President  Carnot  had  been  assassinated,  and  told 
his  family  before  the  morning  paper  which  an- 
nounced the  news  had  been  opened.  But  in  a  case 
of  that  kind  it  seems  possible  that  the  information 
may  have  reached  the  sleeper  in  his  dreams  from 
the  shouts  of  a  newsboy,  or  even  from  the  conver- 
sation of  passers-by  in  the  street. 

The  reader  will  be  able  to  judge  for  himself  how 
far  the  examples  which  follow  conform  to  the 
standard  set  up,  and  how  far  it  is  probable  that 
the  coincidences  described  have  been  due  to  normal 
causes. 

In  the  first  case  to  be  quoted,  two  friends,  at  a 
distance  of  some  miles  from  each  other,  had  similar 
dreams. 

The  incident  bears  some  resemblance  to  an  ex- 
periment in  the  transference  of  an  imaginary  scene. 
Dr.  Gleason's  dream,  as  shown  by  the  entry  in  her 
diary,  occurred  between  2  and  3  a.m.  on  Wednes- 
day, January  27,  1892.  The  other  percipient's 
account  unfortunately  leaves  it  doubtful  whether 
his  dream  occurred,  as  would  naturally  be  inferred 
from  his  opening  sentence,  on  the  night  of  Tues- 
day-Wednesday, or  on  the  night  of  Monday-Tues- 
day. In  any  case  it  seems  clear  that  both  the 
dreams  had  already  taken  place  before  the  dreamers 
met :  and  the  details  of  the  dreams  are  so  bizarre 
that  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  they  could  both 
arise  independently. 


spontaneous  Thought  Transference     8t 

No.  21.     From  Dr.  Adele  A.  Gleason  ' 
The  Gleason  Sanitarium,  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  February,  1892. 

The  night  of  Tuesday,  January  26,  1892, 1  dreamed  between 
two  and  three  o'clock  that  I  stood  in  a  lonesome  place  in 
dark  woods  ;  that  great  fear  came  on  me  ;  that  a  presence  as 
of  a  man  well  known  to  me  came  and  shook  a  tree  by  me,  and 
that  its  leaves  began  to  turn  to  flame. 

The  dream  was  so  vivid  that  I  said  to  the  man  of  whom  I 
dreamed  when  I  saw  him  four  days  later,  "  I  had  a  very 
strange  dream  Tuesday  night."  He  said,  "  Do  not  tell  it  to 
me  ;  let  me  describe  it,  for  I  Anow  I  dreamed  the  same  thing." 

He  then  without  suggestion  from  me  duplicated  the  dream, 
which  he  knew,  from  the  time  of  waking  from  it,  took  place  at 
the  same  hour  of  the  same  night. 

Adele  A.  Gleason. 

Dr.  Gleason  was  so  impressed  by  the  dream  that 
on  the  following  morning  she  made  an  entry  in  her 
diary  :  "  Night  of  dream.  J.  R.  J."  (Mr.  Joslyn's 
initials.)  The  diary  was  sent  to  Dr.  Hodgson  for 
his  inspection. 

The  account  of  the  second  dreamer,  written  a 
few  days  later,  is  as  follows  : 

Fro7n  Mr.  John  R.  Joslyn,  Attorney-at-Law 

208  East  Water  Street,  Elmira,  N.  Y. 

On  Tuesday,  January  26,  1892,  I  dreamed  that  in  a  lonely 
wood  where  sometimes  I  hunted  game  and  was  walking  along 
after  dark,  I  found  a  friend  standing  some  ten  feet  in  the 
bushes  away  from  the  road,  apparently  paralysed  with  fear  of 
something  invisible  to  me,  and  almost  completely  stupefied  by 
the  sense  of  danger.  I  went  to  the  side  of  my  friend  and 
shook  the  bush,  when  the  falling  leaves  turned  into  flame. 

On  meeting  this  friend,  a  lady,  some  days  afterwards,  she 
mentioned  having  had  a  vivid  dream  on  Tuesday  morning, 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  June,  1S95,  p.  105. 
6 


82     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

and  I  said  "  Let  me  tell  you    mine  first,"  and  without  sugges- 
tion I  related  the  duplicate  of  her  dream. 

I  was  awakened  soon  after,  and  noted  the  time  from  a  cer- 
tain night  train  on  a  railroad  near  by,  and  so  am  certain  that 
the  dreams  took  place  at  same  hour  of  same  night. 

J.    R.   JOSLYN. 

It  would  seem  here  that  a  kind  of  nightmare 
experience  of  the  one  dreamer  was  by  sympathy- 
transferred  to  the  other. 

The  next  example,  again,  bears  some  resem- 
blance to  our  experimental  cases,  but  in  the  present 
instance  the  distance  between  agent  and  percipient 
— if  we  adopt  the  telepathic  explanation — was  some 
five  hundred  miles. 

No.  22.     From  Mrs.  Krekel' 

[Mrs.  Krekel,  an  associate  of  the  American  Branch  of  the 
S.  P.  R.,  was  in  November,  1893,  staying  with  an  old  friend, 
Mrs.  McKenzie.  On  the  early  morning  of  the  23rd  November 
she  heard  a  loud  rap  upon  the  headboard  of  the  bed  ;  and  after 
relapsing  again  into  a  condition  of  half-sleep,  saw  a  large  en- 
velope, with  a  mourning  border,  thrust  before  her  face.  She 
related  her  experience  to  her  friend  in  the  morning.  The 
following  day  she  left  her  friend's  house;  and  on  the  next  day 
— Saturday  the  25th — received  a  telegram  announcing  her 
mother's  death. 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  Mrs.  Krekel  to  her 
hostess  a  week  after  the  visionary  experience.] 

RocKPORT,  III.,  November  30,  1893. 

Dear  Mrs.  McKenzie, — The  enclosed  telegram,  which  I 

would  like  you  to  return  again  to  me,  will  explain  the  sad 

errand  upon  which  I  was  called  to  Rockport,  only  two  days 

after  my  somewhat   remarkable   experience    at   your   place. 

^Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  June,  1895. 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference     St, 

You  will  remember  that  it  was  Wednesday  night,  November 
22nd,  that  I  heard  the  loud  rap  upon  head  of  my  bed,  and 
had  the  arm  thrust  over  my  shoulder,  handing  me  the  envelope 
with  mourning  border  and  death  upon  it.  Saturday  morning, 
at  Hamburg,  Iowa,  three  days  afterwards,  the  enclosed  mes- 
sage came  to  me.  Now  I  must  tell  you  some  other  particulars 
connected  with  it,  which  are  part,  and  a  remarkable  part,  of 
the  occurrence  and  experience. 

My  mother  was  taken  ill  Wednesday  night,  soon  after  going 
to  bed, — a  difficulty  in  breathing,  which  she  had  experienced 
more  or  less  since  an  attack  of  "  la  grippe  "  four  years  ago. 
She  occupied  and  slept  in  her  own  part  of  the  house,  shut 
away  from  my  brother  and  sister-in-law  by  two  doors, — the 
folding  doors  of  the  parlour  which  was  her  living  room 
and  her  bedroom  door  opening  off  her  living  room.  She 
told  my  sister  Mary,  who  was  sent  for  the  next  morning 
and  stayed  with  her  until  she  died,  that  she  disliked  to  disturb 
the  family,  knowing  that  they  were  ill  (both  brother  and  his 
wife  were  down  with  "grippe"),  and  she  resolved  to  go 
through  the  night  without  calling  them  ;  but  along  towards 
morning  became  so  ill  that  she  tried  to  call  them,  rapped  upon 
a  stand  standing  at  the  head  of  bed,  and  upon  the  headboard,  ufitil 
she  aroused  the?n. 

Now,  that  I  heard  my  dear  old  mother  rapping  for  help 
across  three  states,  I  have  no  more  doubt  than  I  have  that  I  am 
writing  to  you  of  the  occurrence  now. 

My  sister  tells  me  that  she  was  likely  struck  with  death 
from  the  first.  Her  hands  and  feet  were  deathly  cold,  but  she 
did  not  know  it,  said  she  was  comfortable,  "that  she  was 
going,"  and  was  glad,  "  was  happy." 

Mattie  r.  Krekel. 

The  telegram  is  dated  November  25,  1893,  and 
announces  that  the  death  had  occurred  at  four 
o'clock  that  morning.  November  22nd,  1893,  was 
a  Wednesday,  as  stated. 


84     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

The  following  was  Mrs.  McKenzie's  reply  to 
Mrs.  Krekel: 

Quitman,  Mo.,  December  6,  1893. 
I  opened  your  letter  in  the  presence  of  my  husband, 
son,  and  daughter.  I  read  the  telegram  first.  My  surprise 
caused  me  to  relate  the  occurrence  of  Wednesday  night,  No- 
vember 22nd,  as  you  had  told  me  in  the  morning.  Lottie 
told  her  father  that  you  told  her  the  same  thing  after  break- 
fast. Then  I  read  your  letter,  and  there  was  the  same.  A 
loud  rap  upon  the  head  of  your  bed,  waking  you  up,  an  arm 
thrust  over  your  shoulder,  handing  you  an  envelope  with  a 
black  border,  with  death  upon  it.  I  cannot  forget  your 
excitement  and  sadness,  caused  by  the  occurrence. 

Ellen  E.  McKenzie. 

Mrs.  Krekel,  it  should  be  added,  explains  that 
she  was  in  no  anxiety  about  her  mother  at  the  time  : 
*'  As  far  as  I  knew,  my  mother  was  in  better  health 
than  a  year  before."  She  added  that  the  distance 
between  her  mother  and  herself  at  the  time  of  the 
vision  was  five  hundred  miles. 

In  the  next  case  the  coincidence  was  of  a  much 
more  striking  character,  and  the  dream,  again,  was 
sufficiently  vivid  to  awaken  the  dreamer. 
No.  23. 

Mr.   H.    B.,    an  undergraduate  of College, 

Cambridge,  wrote   on   the  6th  October,    1901,   to 
Mr.  Piddington  : 

...  I  thought  you  might  possibly  be  interested  in  a  coinci- 
dence which  took  place  at  the  end  of  August  last.  I  am  attached 
to  a  certain  young  lady.  At  the  time  I  refer  to  I  was  staying 
near  Peterboro'  and  the  lady  in  question  was  at  her  home,  a 
seaside  town  in  Yorkshire.      One  very  close  thundery  night  I 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference     85 

found  some  difficulty  in  getting  to  sleep.  When  finally  I  fell 
asleep,  or  rather  dozed,  the  face  of  Miss  D.  rose  up  before  me, 
and  to  my  surprise  one  side  of  her  face  was  very  much  swol- 
len and  she  looked  very  unhappy.  I  sat  up  in  bed  and  spoke 
to  her,  only  to  find  that  I  had  been  dreaming.  Again  I  fell 
asleep  and  dreamt  that  I  was  walking  along  a  street,  when  I 
heard  a  cry  above  me,  and  looking  up  saw  Miss  D.'s  face  at  a 
window  from  which  smoke  and  flames  were  issuing.  I  rushed 
upstairs,  only  to  see  her  face  floating  in  the  smoke,  very  much 
swollen.  I  tried  to  grasp  her,  and  woke  up  with  a  cry.  Some- 
how the  dream  depressed  me,  and  next  day  in  writing  to  Miss 
D.  I  told  her  the  whole  thing,  much  as  I  have  told  you.  Im- 
agine my  surprise  a  day  after,  when  I  heard  from  her  that  on 
the  night  in  question  she  had  gone  out  to  see  a  house  on  fire — 
Mrs.  K.'s  seaside  residence  ;  had  contracted  a  chill,  and  gone 
to  bed  with  her  face  enormously  swollen  up,  and  had  suffered 
severe  toothache  all  night.  Our  letters  on  the  subject  will 
confirm  dates,  etc.   ...  H.  B. 

A  few  days  later  Mr.  H.  B.  called  on  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall,  who  ascertained  that  the  dream  occurred  on 
the  night  of  Sunday,  August  25th.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  Mr.  H.  B.,  to  quote  from  Mrs.  Verrall's 
notes  of  her  interview  with  him, 

wrote  to  Miss  D.  to  ask  if  she  had  had  a  toothache,  but  on 
second  thoughts  decided  that  it  would  make  him  feel  foolish 
if  nothing  had  occurred,  and  so  tore  up  the  letter.  On  a  later 
day  in  the  week  he  was  writing  to  her  about  other  things,  and 
then  mentioned  his  vivid  dream  about  the  swollen  face  (this 
part  of  the  business  evidently  impressed  him  much  more  than 
the  fire).  But  before  he  sent  this  letter  he  received  one  from 
her  mentioning  that  she  had  been  suffering  from  a  severe 
toothache  and  swollen  face  since  Sunday  night.  This  letter  I 
have  seen  ;  it  is  dated  from  Filey,  on  "  Wednesday  "  (obvi- 
ously August  28th),  and  begms  by  saying  that  she  is  sorry  not 
to    have   written   before,   but   has   been    "  seedy   ever   since 


86     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

Sunda3\  I  think  I  must  have  got  a  chill;  anyhow,  I  had  raging 
toothache  from  Sunday  night  till  "  the  day  before,  when  she 
had  the  tooth  out  with  gas.  The  letter  went  on  to  give  a 
graphic  description,  with  a  sketch,  of  her  appearance  during 
the  time  that  her  face  was  swollen. 

On  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  H.  B.  was  so  much  astonished  to 
find  that  his  dream  about  the  swollen  face  was  true  that  he  added 
a  postscript  to  his  letter  (which  had  not  yet  gone)  to  say  that 
he  had  seen  her  with  a  swollen  face  at  a  window  from  which 
smoke  was  coming,  and  to  ask  if  that  part  of  the  dream  was 
also  true. 

Her  letter  in  answer  to  that  I  have  also  seen.  It  is  dated 
from  Filey  on  August  31,  1901,  and  I  copy  the  important 
part  : — "  I  was  awfully  interested  in  your  dream  ;  it  is  the 
queerest  thing  I  have  heard  of  for  ages.  The  funny  part  of  it 
is  that  I  got  the  cold  which  made  my  toothache  so  bad  by 
going  out  on  Sunday  evening,  hearing  that  there  was  a  fire  on 
the  Crescent.  It  was  Mrs,  K.'s  house  ;  one  of  the  bedrooms 
got  on  fire.  It  was  nothing  much,  and  was  put  out  before  the 
Fire  Brigade  arrived.  .  .  .  Auntie  M.  first  noticed  smoke 
coming  out  of  the  window."  The  writer  goes  on  to  say  (and 
this  seems  to  me  very  interesting),  *'  M.  gave  me  a  sleeping 
powder  on  Sunday  night,  so  I  slept  heavily,  in  spite  of  the 
pain."  She  also  says  that  she  thought  about  him  a  good  deal 
on  Monday  night  when  she  had  seen  what  a  sight  she  was,  but 
not  on  Sunday.' 

The  case  is  interesting,  not  only  from  the  de- 
tailed nature  of  the  coincidence,  but  because  it 
illustrates  one  of  the  chief  obstacles  to  obtaining 
orood  evidence  in   cases  of  this  kind.     The  letter 

o 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  July,  1902,  p.  263.  A  case  very  similar  to  Mr,  H. 
B.'s  will  be  found  in  my  Apparitions  and  Thought  Transference  (p.  200). 
The  percipient  in  that  case,  Sir  Edward  Hamilton,  K.C.B.,  had  a  vision  of 
his  brother  with  his  arm  seriously  affected,  horribly  red,  and  bent  back  at 
the  wrist.  The  date  of  the  dream  is  attested  by  a  note  in  the  percipient's 
diary.  * 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference     87 

which  Mr.  H.  B.  had  actually  written  on  the  Mon- 
day was  not  sent,  through  fear  of  ridicule.  Some- 
times it  is  a  feeling  of  quite  a  different  order  which 
stands  in  the  way  of  a  written  note  being  made. 
Thus,  Miss  G.  had  a  dream  of  her  brother  dying 
in  his  berth  on  board  ship.  Miss  G.  was  so  con- 
vinced that  her  brother  was  dead  (in  fact  he  died 
about  twelve  hours  later),  that  she  ceased  to  send 
her  usual  letters  to  him  ;  but,  in  place  of  making  a 
written  note  of  an  experience  which  she  felt  too 
sacred  for  the  purpose,  she  kept  an  invitation  card 
to  a  children's  party  to  remind  her  of  the  exact 
date.^  In  another  case,  in  which  a  child  of  fourteen 
saw  the  apparition  of  a  young  man  of  about  nine- 
teen on  the  day  of  his  death,  the  percipient  told  no 
one  of  her  experience,  save  her  sister  who  was 
present  at  the  time;  and  adds,  "Although  I  wished 
to  put  it  down  in  my  diary  (which  I  had  not  kept 
for  some  time),  I  was  afraid  to  do  so  ;  I  therefore 
made  marks  to  remind  myself."^ 

In  the  last  case,  it  will  be  observed,  the  vision 
was  a  waking  hallucination,  a  much  more  impres- 
sive experience  than  a  dream,  and  one  much  more 
likely  therefore  to  be  recorded.  But  we  have  some 
statistics  to  show  that  even  hallucinations  are  very 
rarely  recorded  beforehand.  Out  of  sixty-two  hal- 
lucinations coincident  with  a  death,  obtained  through 
the  Census  enquiry,  a  written  note  is  said  to  have 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  December,  1894. 

"  I  have  seen  the  "  mark  "  in  the  diary — a  simple  triangle  with  no  com- 
ment of  any  kind. 


88      Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

been  made  before  news  of  the  death  in  six  cases 
only.  In  only  one — the  narrative  just  cited — has 
the  note  actually  been  preserved,  and  this,  as  has 
been  shown,  in  an  ambiguous  form.  There  are 
altogether  1942  hallucinations  reported  in  the  Cen- 
sus enquiry,  and  in  only  forty-nine  of  these,  i.  e., 
2.5  per  cent.,  is  any  record  (diary  or  letter)  said  to 
have  been  written  within  twenty-four  hours  of  the 
occurrence.  1  We  can  hardly  expect  therefore  that 
a  note  of  a  dream  will  be  made  at  the  time,  unless 
the  percipient  should  happen  to  be  specially  in- 
terested in  the  subject. 

In  the  following  case  also  the  correspondence 
between  the  dream  and  the  event  appears  to  have 
been  very  detailed ;  though  in  one  important  par- 
ticular, the  identity  of  the  person  in  the  water,  the 
dreamer  was  at  fault. 

No.  24.     From  Miss  C.  Clarkson  ' 

Alverthorpe  Hall,  Wakefield 

May  8th,  1894. 

On  Sunday,  May  5th,  1894,^  my  sister  and  I  were  boating 
on  the  river  Derwent,  in  Yorkshire  (near  Kirkham  Abbey), 
with  a  party  of  friends  in  a  small  steam  launch.  Between  3 
and  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  we  had  all  landed  to  gather 
cowslips  in  the  fields,  and  on  returning  to  the  boat,  for  some 
reason  the  usual  plank  for  landing  was  not  in  position,  and  we 
jumped  in  turn  from  the  bank  on  to  the  flat  end  of  the  boat. 
I  was  the  last,  and  in  jumping  missed  my  footing  and  slipped 

■  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  pp.  211  and  220.  Of  course  only  a  small 
proportion  of  the  1942  hallucinations  showed  any  correspondence  with  a 
death  or  other  event. 

'■*  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  July,  1895. 

^  The  first  Sunday  in  May,  1B94,  was  really  the  6th, 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference     89 

into  the  water,  catching  the  edge  of  the  boat,  however,  with 
my  hands  as  I  went,  and  supporting  myself — so  that  I  was  not 
totally  immersed,  though  the  water  was  a  good  depth  where 
we  were.  Two  of  the  gentlemen  rushed  forward  and  pulled 
me  out  by  my  arms.  I  said  as  I  was  being  hauled  up,  "  It  is 
no  use  pulling  so  hard,  you  hurt  me."  One  of  them  said, 
"We  must  pull,  if  we  are  to  get  you  out."  I  was  got  on  to 
the  boat  in  a  very  short  time,  and  was  never  in  any  danger. 

We  returned  to  our  own  home  the  next  day,  and  never 
mentioned  in  the  slightest  way  the  little  accident  to  any  one, 
lest  my  father,  who  is  a  very  old  man,  should  be  alarmed  or 
worried  at  what  had  happened.  Shortly  after  we  returned, 
my  step-mother  said  to  my  sister^  "  Have  you  had  an  accident 
on  the  river?"  "I?  No,"  said  my  sister.  [Mrs.  Clarkson 
then  related  her  dream.] 

According  to  my  step-mother's  account,  my  father  also 
seemed  to  have  been  a  little  anxious  and  uneasy  in  his  sleep 
that  night,  and  in  the  morning  rather  pointedly  asked  her 
if  she  had  dreamt  anything,  but  said  nothing  further;  and 
nothing  was  afterwards  said  to  him  to  make  him  aware  of 
what  had  happened.  My  step-mother's  dream  was  during  the 
night  after  the  accident  occurred. 

Christabel  Clarkson. 

Miss  Clarkson  adds : 

I  have  asked  Mrs.  Clarkson  if  she  ever  had  any  other 
dreams  of  the  kind,  but  she  says  not. 

The  following  is  Mrs.  Clarkson's  account  of  her 
dream  : 

May  14th,  1894. 
On  Sunday  night,  May  6th,  1894,  [I  had]  a  dream  which 
appeared  remarkable;  in  effect,  was  this — that  Louisa  Clark- 
son was  in  the  water  apparently  drowned,  and  I  said,  *'  Take 
care,  or  you  will  go,"  and  pulled  her  in  by  her  hair.  Her 
answer  was,  "  Do  not  pull  so  hard,  you  hurt  me."  I  still 
pulled,  saying,  "  You  had  better  be  hurt  than  drowned."   The 


90      Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

following  day,  on  her  return  home,  I  inquired  of  her  if  she 
had  an  accident  during  her  visit.  She  said,  **  Well,  something 
like  one ;  my  sister  got  into  the  water  and  used  just  the  same 
words,  'Don't  pull  so  hard,  you  hurt  me.'"  Her  answer 
to  me  was,  "  Well,  it  is  strange." 

Annie  Pilkington  Clarkson. 
P.  S. — I  inquired  of  Louisa  before  hearing  a  word  of  the 
accident. 

Miss  Louisa  Clarkson  also  gives  her  confirmation 
of  the  incident.  Here,  it  will  be  seen,  the  dream 
occurred  some  hours  after  the  accident.  It  may 
be  suggested  that  it  was  caused  by  Miss  Clarkson 
or  her  sister  recalling  the  scene  at  night.  Or, 
again,  the  impression  may  have  been  conveyed 
to  Mrs.  Clarkson  at  the  actual  time  of  the  ac- 
cident, but  have  remained  latent  until  a  favour- 
able opportunity  came  for  its  emergence  into 
consciousness.^ 

A  dream  related  to  us  by  Mr.  G.  R.  Sims  fur- 
nishes a  parallel  for  the  mistake  in  the  identity  of 
the  chief  actor  in  the  dream-drama.  Mr.  Sims 
dreamt  that  his  sister  came  to  tell  him  of  his 
father's  death.  In  the  morning,  after  he  had 
awakened  from  the  dream.  Miss  Sims  actually 
came,  but  the  death  which  she  announced  was 
that  of  his  brother-in-law.^ 

A  very  large  number  of  coincident  dreams,  as 
might  have  been  anticipated  on  the  telepathic 
theory,  are  connected  with  death.  The  following 
may  be  cited  as  a  typical  case. 

'  See  below.  Case  41,  Chapter  VI. 
2  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  October,  1S99. 


spontaneous  Thought  Transference     91 

No.  25.     From  Mrs.  Mann  ' 

King's  Field,  Cambridge,  nth  Feb.,  1904. 

On  the  night  of  Friday,  January  22nd,  1904,  I  had  a  vivid 
dream. 

I  saw  my  old  friend,  Dr.  X.,  who  left  Cambridge  about  ten 
years  ago,  and  I  had  not  seen  him  since,  sitting  by  my  side. 
He  took  hold  of  my  hand,  saying,  "Why  have  you  not  been 
to  see  me  ?  "  I  said,  "  Oh!  I  've  been  so  busy  that  I  've  not 
been  able  to  get  away.  You  are  so  altered  since  I  saw  you 
last."  *'  Yes,"  he  said,  "  but  that  is  so  long  ago."  He  then 
disappeared.  The  dream  so  impressed  me  that  I  told  it  to 
my  husband  at  breakfast  the  next  morning,  Saturday,  23rd, 
and  also  to  a  friend  who  knew  the  doctor,  on  the  25th. 

On  Saturday  morning,  the  30th,  my  husband  at  breakfast 
said  he  had  received  a  memorial  notice  of  Dr.  X.'s  death, 
which  took  place  on  the  23rd  instant,  the  day  after  my  dream. 

S.  Mann. 
A.  H.  Mann. 

Dr.  Mann  appends  his  signature  to  the  account 
in  corroboration.  Mrs.  Mann  explained  to  Mrs. 
H.  Sidgwick  that  Dr.  X.'s  hair  and  whiskers  when 
she  last  saw  him  were  iron  grey,  but  that  in  her 
dream  they  appeared  white.  From  Dr.  X.'s  son 
we  learn  that  his  whiskers  were  not  quite  white 
and  his  hair  only  tinged  with  white.  In  any  case 
little  weight  could  be  attached  to  a  correspondence 
of  this  kind. 

Dr.  X.  died  at  4.30  a.m.  on  the  23rd  January, 
1904,  so  that  it  is  possible  that  the  dream  exactly 
coincided  with  the  hour  of  the  death. 

The  exact  date  of  the  dream  is  fixed  by  a  note 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  June,  1905. 


92     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

in  Dr.  Mann's  diary,  "  Jan.  23rd,  X  [full  surname 
given]  dream." 

A  narrative  is  quoted  in  the  Journal  for  Decem- 
ber, 1895  (p.  178),  in  which  the  occurrence  of  a 
dream  presaging  a  death  was  noted  in  a  diary 
before  the  news  was  received.  In  another  case, 
printed  in  the  Journal  for  November,  1897,  a  letter 
relating  the  dream  was  sent  to  Dr.  Hodgson  before 
news  of  the  event  was  received. 

We  have  several  cases  reported  to  us  of  dreams 
coincident  with  external  events  in  which  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  apply  the  theory  of  thought  transference, 
since  no  person  is  indicated  as  the  probable  agent. 
Thus  we  have  two  or  three  cases  in  which  a  robbery 
has  been  seen  in  a  dream,  in  which  the  only  con- 
ceivable agent  would  appear  to  be  the  malefactor, 
presumably  unknown  to  the  dreamer,  and  certainly 
a  reluctant  party  to  the  experiment.^ 

In  other  cases  the  death  intimated  in  the  dream 
is  that  of  some  eminent  personage — President, 
Duke,  or  professional  cricketer.  In  view  of  the  in- 
calculable scope  offered  by  dreams  for  chance  co- 
incidence, and  the  danger,  when  the  experience  has 
not  been  actually  written  down  at  once,  that  the 
amount  of  correspondence  with  the  event  may  be 

'  A  very  striking  example  of  this  class  is  the  "  prophetic"  dream  of  the 
murder  of  Terriss,  the  actor.  I  have  dealt  with  it  under  the  head  of 
prophecy,  because  the  dream  did  actually  precede  the  murder  by  some 
hours.  But  the  least  incredible  explanation  which  I  can  suggest  for  the 
dream — which  on  any  interpretation  presents  us  with  a  difficult  problem — 
is  that  the  percipient's  experience  was  inspired  by  the  brooding  thoughts  of 
the  actual  murderer,  a  discharged  super,  personally  unknown  to  him.  See 
below,  Chapter  XIV.,  No.  76. 


Spontaneous  Thought  Transference     93 

unduly  magnified,  it  would  not  be  wise  to  attach 
much  importance  to  coincident  dreams  of  this  char- 
acter. But  the  reader  may  be  interested  in  seeing 
a  specimen  case. 

An  account  of  the  incident  described  was  sent  to 
Mr.  Andrew  Lang  on  the  4th  December,  1901,  by 
Mr.  Alexander  Bell  of  the  Sheffield  Daily  Tele- 
graph. On  the  nth  Mr.  Bell  wrote  again,  enclos- 
ing an  account  from  Mr.  Brierley,  the  dreamer : 

No.  26.     From  Mr.  J.  A.  Brierley  ' 

Mr.  Bell  kindly  tells  me  that  you  are  much  interested  in  my 
dream  concerning  the  death  of  Lohmann,  and  for  what  it  may 
be  worth  I  have  pleasure  in  briefly  relating  what  happened. 

Shortly  before  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  December 
2nd  I  awoke,  but,  not  being  under  the  necessity  of  rising 
early,  I  went  off  to  sleep  again,  and  it  was  during  this  period 
that  I  dreamt  Lohmann  had  died — I  had  no  impression  where, 
although  I  knew  he  was  in  South  Africa — and  I  had  to  write 
a  sketch  of  his  career,  I  saw  him  playing  again,  and  he  was 
focussed  very  clearly  before  me  in  the  act  of  delivering  the 
ball.  This,  with  a  memory  of  the  first  match  in  which  I  ever 
saw  him, — the  second  match  between  the  sixth  Australian 
team  and  Shaw  and  Shrewsbury's  Eleven  that  had  been  in  the 
Antipodes  the  previous  year,  played  at  Old  Trafford  on  Sep- 
tember 13,  14,  and  15, 1888,  when  he  and  Briggs  dismissed  the 
whole  side  for  35, — left  a  very  vivid  impression  upon  me  when 
I  awakened,  and  although  I  attached  no  significance  to  the 
dream,  remembering  the  nature  of  my  work,  I  mentioned  the 
incident  to  my  wife  when  I  got  down.  At  that  time,  of  course, 
news  of  Lohmann's  death  was  in  the  papers,  but  as  I  had  left 
the  office  the  previous  evening  by  half-past  nine,  at  which  hour 
the  cable  message  had  not  come  through,  I  was  in  ignorance 
of  it.     Curiously  enough,  I  did  not  see  a  paper  that  morning 

»  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  May,  1902. 


94     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

until  I  reached  the  office,  and  the  first  words  that  were  ad- 
dressed to  me  were,  "  Do  you  know  George  Lohmann  is 
dead  ? " 

I  had  not  sought  to  trace  any  meaning  to  it,  looking  upon 
it  merely  as  a  remarkable  coincidence,  but,  as  was  pointed  out 
by  one  of  my  colleagues  to  whom  I  mentioned  what  had  oc- 
curred, the  strange  part  of  the  matter  is  that  since  he  left 
England  after  the  tour  of  the  South  Africans  in  this  country, 
nothing  had  appeared  to  in  any  way  revive  memories  of  him 
at  such  a  time,  J.  A.  Brierley. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Bell,  we  obtained 
later  the  following  corroboration  from  Mrs.  Brier- 
ley  ;  this  was  enclosed  in  a  letter  dated  December 
23rd,  1901  : 

All  that  I  can  say  with  regard  to  Mr.  Brierley's  account  of 
his  dream  is  that,  just  before  sitting  down  to  breakfast  on  the 
morning  he  mentions,  he  alluded  to  the  fact  that  he  had  had  a 
singular  fancy  in  his  sleep — that  he  had  dreamt  Lohmann,  the 
cricketer,  was  dead,  that  he  had  to  write  an  obituary  notice  of 
him,  and  other  things  which  he  has  detailed  in  his  own  com- 
munication. That  he  did  so  relate  this  to  me  at  that  time, 
I  have  the  clearest  recollection. 

(Signed)     Louie  Brierley. 

The  telegram  announcing  Lohmann's  death,  as 
we  learn  from  Mr.  Bell,  did  not  reach  the  office  of 
the  Telegraph  until  after  midnight  on  Sunday,  ist 
December. 

Here,  whatever  significance  we  may  attach  to 
the  coincidence,  it  is  at  least  worth  noting  that  the 
dream  made  a  sufficient  impression  to  induce  the 
percipient  to  relate  it  the  next  morning. 

In  the  narratives  hitherto  cited  the  coincidence 
has  been  of  a  perfectly  definite  character,  and  the 


spontaneous  Thought  Transference     95 

dream  has,  with  the  doubtful  exception  of  case  No. 
22,  been  referred  at  the  time  to  the  presumed 
agent.  Before  leaving  the  subject,  however,  men- 
tion should  perhaps  be  made  of  the  class  of  sym- 
bolic dreams — a  survival  of  the  occult  art  of  the 
interpretation  of  dreams.  Many  cases  have  been 
reported  to  us  in  which  dreams  of  a  particular  type 
are  apt  to  recur  with  certain  persons,  indicating, 
either  by  way  of  coincidence  or  forewarning,  the 
occurrence  of  a  death  in  their  immediate  circle.  It 
is  difficult  for  us  in  such  cases  to  share  our  inform- 
ant's confidence  that  a  dream  of  this  kind  is  causally 
connected  with  the  death,  partly  because  the  dream 
as  a  rule  is  not  referred  at  the  time  to  any  particular 
person,  and  the  scope  for  coincidence  is  thus  very 
wide ;  but  mainly  because  it  is  rarely  possible,  even 
with  the  most  scrupulous  narrator,  to  feel  satisfied 
that  all  the  "  misses  "  have  been  recorded  as  well 
as  the  "hits."  In  the  following  case,  however, 
though  the  dream  did  not  actually  suggest  at  the 
time  the  death  of  Mrs.  Medley,  it  called  up  the 
thought  of  her.  The  dream,  it  will  be  seen,  was 
preceded  by  a  series  of  waking  impressions.  It 
should  be  added  that  dreams  of  these  offensive 
parasites,  or  of  teeth  falling  out,  are  amongst  the 
commonest  types  of  symbolic  death-dreams. 
No.  27.  From  Mrs.  Knight 
Heathlands,  Malvern  Wells,  20th  April,  1897  ' 
I  was  staying  at  Udny  Castle,  in  Aberdeenshire,  on  a  visit, 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  October,  1897.      The  account  was  actually  written 
down,  as  stated  at  the  end  of  the  letter,  a  few  days  after  the  occurrence. 


96     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

and  was  going  on  for  another  visit  to  Lytham,  in  Lancashire, 
on  the  i8th  of  September,  1895.  I  had  wished  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Udny  and  the  friends  in  the  house  good-bye  when  I  went  to 
bed,  knowing  I  should  have  to  make  a  very  early  start  in  the 
morning.  So  I  had  the  curtains  drawn  and  the  shutters  shut 
to  make  the  room  dark  and  to  get  a  good  night's  sleep. 

But  I  woke  up  with  the  feeling  of  being  gently  wakened  ;  I 
was  swayed,  or  rather  rocked  backwards  and  forwards,  till  I 
felt  the  bed  to  see  if  that  were  moving,  and  then  I  was  gently 
and  quietly  raised  up.  The  air  fluttered  over  my  head,  a 
shimmering  light  came,  and  I  felt  some  one  was  detained, 
lingering  and  hovering  over  me.  To  myself,  I  said  :  '*  Some 
one  is  dying  ;  some  one  I  know  is  leaving  this  world  and 
blessing  me"  ;  and  then  the  hovering  and  the  fluttering  were 
greater.  Then,  aloud,  as  if  some  one  were  willing  me  (for  I 
never  speak  aloud  to  myself),  I  said  :  "  If  dear  Med  were  here 
she  would  tell  me  at  once  who  it  is."  As  if  in  answer  came 
a  rap  by  the  head  of  my  bed,  a  rap  I  have  never  heard  before, 
and  was  certainly  not  made  by  human  hands,  I  jumped  out 
of  bed,  and  said,  "  Who  am  I  to  see?"  I  lit  my  candle,  and 
looked  at  my  watch,  and  it  was  seven  minutes  past  three.  I 
put  the  candle  out,  and  was  getting  into  bed,  when  I  thought, 
"  How  can  I  rest  while  a  soul  I  know  is  passing  from  this 
world  ?  "  and  I  knelt  down  and  said  a  prayer  for  the  soul.  I 
never  thought  it  was  my  dear  nurse,  Mrs.  Medley,  whom  I 
always  called  "  Med,"  but  I  thought  of  a  friend  I  knew  in 
Warwickshire. 

After  I  got  into  bed  and  put  the  candle  out,  there  was  a 
light  I  cannot  describe  all  round  my  bed.  It  was  a  silvery 
radiance,  and  as  it  passed  away  flashes  of  gold  and  gold  stars 
fell.  About  five  I  went  to  sleep  for  half  an  hour,  but  woke  up 
with  my  hand  on  my  neck  trying  to  take  off  a  flat  black  in- 
sect. .  .  .  One  seemed  on  my  forehead,  one  on  my  neck, 
and  I  said  again  aloud  :  "  This  is  dear  Med's  Death  Dream  ; 
how  interested  she  will  be  to  hear  it.  Who  could  have  died 
this  morning?"  Mrs.  Medley  had  always  told  me  that 
dreaming  of  insects  on  the  head  and  neck  was  a  certain  sign 


spontaneous  Thought  Transference      97 

of   death,    and    I    never   liked   her   saying    this,    but    never 
believed  it. 

I  was  travelling  from  6.30  that  morning,  and  arrived  at 
Lytham  about  8  p.m.,  when  I  was  met  at  the  station  by  my 
friend,  with  a  telegram  in  her  hand,  saying,  "  My  dear,  I  have 
very  sad  news  for  you."  And  I  answered,  "  Then  it  was  dear 
Med."  And  she  said,  "  Oh,  I  am  so  glad  you  were  prepared. 
We  feared  from  the  telegram  it  would  be  such  an  awful  shock 
to  you."  I  answered,  "  I  was  not  prepared,  only  I  know  it 
all  now." 

I  took  the  first  train  in  the  next  morning  to  Malvern  Wells, 
where  we  were  living,  and  at  that  station  was  met  and  told  my 
dear  nurse  had  died  at  three.  I  said,  "  No,  it  was  later."  On 
arriving  at  the  house  my  sister  said  she  had  looked  at  the 
watch,  and  the  hands  were  between  ^ve  and  ten  minutes  past 
three.  It  was  seven  minutes  past  three  when  I  looked  at  my 
watch  on  that  morning. 

The  day  before  she  had  been  very  well,  and  my  sisters  had 
taken  her  for  a  drive  round  Upton-on-Severn,  but  she  was 
constantly  talking  of  me,  and  saying,  "  I  am  not  happy  about 
Etta.     She  is  not  well ;  I  want  to  see  her." 

I  had  not  said  in  any  letters  that  I  was  not  well,  but  I  had 
not  been  very  well. 

She  was  the  dearest  and  truest  friend  I  have  ever  had,  or 
ever  can  have.  She  was  my  sisters'  and  my  nurse,  and  had 
been  in  my  father's  service  before  I  was  born.     .     .     . 

Henrietta  Knight. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Myers,  enclosing  the  account, 
Mrs.  Knight  writes: 

Heathlands,  Malvern  Wells,  April  20th  [1897]. 
.     .     .     I  was  so  afraid  of  imagining  or  forgetting,  that  the 
day  I  arrived  home  I  wrote  the  bare  facts,  which  I  have  copied 
for  you.     I  have  simply  copied  down  what  I  wrote. 

Mrs.  Knight  adds  that  she  had  no  knowledge  of 


9S     Spontaneous  Thought  Transference 

Mrs.  Medley's  illness  :  and  that  "  the  love  between 
her  and  me  was  greater  than  the  love  between 
many  a  mother  and  child." 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  idea  of  death  had  been 
already  summoned  up  by  the  previous  waking  ex- 
perience, and  that  the  dream  simply  embodied  the 
same  idea  in  the  traditional  symbolic  imagery — a 
tradition  closely  associated  in  the  dreamer's  mind 
with  the  idea  of  the  dying  woman. 


CHAPTER  V 

ON     HALLUCINATIONS    IN    GENERAL 

KTONE  of  the  obscure  phenomena  dealt  with  by 
^  ^  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  have  ex- 
cited more  attention,  and  been  more  widely  misin- 
terpreted, than  the  apparitions  of  the  dying  which 
form  the  subject-matter  of  the  next  chapter.  Such 
apparitions  are  reported  to  have  occurred  far  back 
in  the  world's  annals.  Some  historical  instances 
will  no  doubt  occur  to  the  reader.  The  memory  of 
a  mental  attitude  now  outgrown  is  apt  to  be  short- 
lived, and  it  is  perhaps  not  superfluous  to  point  out 
that  until  some  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago,  say, 
there  were  only  two  explanations  of  such  occur- 
rences commonly  recognised.  By  the  majority  of 
the  educated  classes  they  were  dismissed  as  mere 
inventions  of  the  popular  imagination,  like  the  tales 
of  elves,  nymphs,  fauns,  hobgoblins,  and  the  whole 
tribe  of  fairyland.  In  the  belief  of  the  people  they 
were  held  to  be  what  they  seemed,  the  authentic  ap- 
pearances of  the  dead — certissimcs  mortis  imagmes. 
Even  now  the  endorsement  of  these  dubious  shapes 
by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  has  done 
more,  probably,  than  anything  else  to  prejudice  our 
investigations.  Those  who  have  themselves  dis- 
carded   the  heritage  of  a  primeval   animism    can 

99 


loo         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

hardly  bring  themselves  to  credit  that  we  also  are 
to  that  extent  emancipated  ;  and  the  implicit  assump- 
tion that  we  regard  such  appearances  as  in  some 
sense  a  part  of  the  dying  man,  a  double,  an  astral 
body,  a  visible  soul,  still  prevails  in  some  quarters. 

Let  it  be  understood,  then,  that  in  this  and  the 
following  chapter  the  apparitions  or  "ghosts"  of 
which  instances  will  be  cited  are  regarded  primarily 
as  hallucinations.  A  hallucination  is  a  sensory  per- 
ception which  corresponds  to  no  sensory  reality^;  it 
is  a  creation  of  the  brain  ;  in  the  case  of  a  visual  hal- 
lucination we  may  describe  it  as  the  final  member  in 
a  series  of  which  intermediate  terms  can  be  traced  in 
the  half  realised  pictures  that  flit  before  our  waking 
thought  in  every  act  of  memory ;  the  imagery  which 
fills  our  consciousness  in  dreams ;  and  the  mind's  eye 
visions  so  frequently  seen  by  artists  and  others  with 
a  vivid  imagination,  of  which  some  telepathic  exam- 
ples have  been  cited  in  Chapter  III.  A  hallucination 
may  be  roughly  described  as  a  waking  dream  ;  and  it 
is  for  our  purpose  more  interesting  and  more  signifi- 
cant than  a  dream  only  because  it  is  a  much  rarer  phe- 
nomenon, and  because  the  circumstance  that  it  takes 
a  place  amongst  the  imagery  of  the  external  world 
seen  by  the  waking  eyes  makes  it  likely  to  be  more 
certainly  remembered  and  more  accurately  recorded. 

But  to  most  persons  the  word  "hallucination" 
still  carries  with  it  some   implication   of   disease. 

'  More  accurately,  to  adopt  Edmund  Gurney's  definition,  a  hallucination 
is  "  a  percept  which  lacks,  but  can  only  by  distinct  reflection  be  recognised 
as  lacking,  the  objective  basis  which  it  suggests." 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         loi 

The  man  in  the  street  when  he  hears  the  word 
probably  thinks  of  Huxley's  Mrs.  A.,  and  of 
Goethe's  butt,  Nicolai,  the  Berlin  bookseller:  and 
in  both  these  cases  the  hallucinations  were  symp- 
toms of  maladies  for  which  the  sufferers  were  under 
medical  treatment.  It  is  only  within  the  last  gen- 
eration that  even  medical  men  have  come  to  recog- 
nise that  hallucinations  may  occur  amongst  sane  and 
healthy  people;  that  they  are  indeed  of  much  more 
frequent  occurrence,  say,  than  smallpox  or  typhoid 
fever,  and  that  they  may  imply  no  greater  functional 
disturbance  than  a  toothache  or  a  cold.  For  within 
the  last  generation  our  knowledge  of  the  subject 
has  been  increased  by  two  methods.  In  the  first 
place  an  increasing  familiarity  with  hypnotism  has 
enabled  us  to  reproduce  hallucinations  at  will.  A 
subject  in  the  somnambulic  stage  of  the  hypnotic 
sleep  will  not  merely  see  and  hear  what  he  is  bidden 
to  see  or  hear  at  the  time;  but  will  also,  in  obedience 
to  the  experimenter's  suggestion,  summon  up  like 
unsubstantial  visions  after  the  trance  has  terminated. 
I  have  seen  a  lady,  some  time  after  being  awakened, 
gratefully  accept  a  blank  card  as  a  photograph  of  a 
friend :  I  have  myself  persuaded  an  educated  man, 
in  full  possession  apparently  of  his  normal  senses, 
to  mistake  blue  for  green  and  yellow  for  pink.  That 
hallucinations  thus  imposed  are  really  seen  there  can 
be  little  doubt;  they  are  even  amenable  in  some 
cases  to  the  usual  optical  tests,  and  can  be  magni- 
fied by  a  lens,  or  reflected  in  a  mirror,  or  give  rise 
to    after-images.      With    a   good  subject  there  is 


I02         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

apparently  no  limit  to  this  power  to  perceive  sug- 
gested hallucinations.  Edmund  Gurney,  following 
the  example  of  some  Continental  hypnotists,  caused 
by  this  means  a  lifelike  apparition  of  himself  to 
appear  to  an  astonished  servant  girl/ 

But  the  spontaneous  hallucinations  of  normal 
healthy  persons  are  more  pertinent  to  our  present 
enquiry  than  these  post-somnambulic  visions.  The 
late  Professor  Sidgwick,  at  the  instance  of  the 
Congress  of  Experimental  Psychology  which  met 
in  Paris  in  1889,  with  the  aid  of  a  committee  of 
members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  in- 
stituted a  census  of  spontaneous  hallucinations  of 
the  sane.  In  the  course  of  three  or  four  years 
17,000  persons,  the  greater  part  resident  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  were  questioned  on  the  subject.^ 
The  results  showed  that  655  out  of  8372  men,  and 
1029  out  of  8628  women,  or  9.9  per  cent,  of  the 

^  Proceedings, ^.V.  R,,  vol.  v.,  pp.  11-13.  The  girl  had  no  recollection  in  the 
waking  state  of  the  suggestion  given  in  the  trance,  and  was  much  astonished 
and  a  little  frightened  at  the  apparition  which  came  down  the  kitchen  stairs. 
She  went  at  once  to  tell  her  mistress. 

*  The  question  was  worded  as  follows  :  "  Have  you  ever,  when  believing 
yourself  to  be  completely  awake,  had  a  vivid  impression  of  seeing,  or  being 
touched  by,  a  living  being  or  inanimate  object,  or  of  hearing  a  voice  ;  which 
impression,  so  far  as  you  could  discover,  was  not  due  to  any  external  physi- 
cal cause?" 

It  should  be  added  that  the  greatest  care  was  taken  to  ensure  the  accuracy 
and  representative  character  of  the  answers.  The  collectors,  who  all  gave 
their  services  gratuitously,  numbered  410  :  they  included,  besides  members 
of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  many  medical  men,  trained  psycho- 
logists, teachers,  and  others.  Nine  tenths  of  them  were  educated  up  to  the 
standard  of  the  professional  classes,  and  all  were  carefully  instructed  in  their 
duties.  Answers  were  obtained  on  schedules  printed  for  the  purpose  in 
batches  of  25,  and  it  was  a  special  instruction  that  no  selection  of  answers 
should  be  made,  but  that  all  answers,  whether  Yes  or  No,  should  be  regarded 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         103 

whole  number,  had  experienced  a  sensory  halluci- 
nation at  some  time  in  their  lives;  many  more  than 
once.  Of  the  whole  number  of  hallucinations  about 
two  thirds  affected  the  sense  of  sight,  the  remainder 
being  concerned  with  hearing  and  touch.  It  is  the 
visual  hallucinations,  however,  which  most  concern 
us,  and  the  following  table  gives  an  analysis  of  the 
things  represented  in  the  11 12  Visions,  the  con- 
ditions under  which  they  were  seen,  and  the  period 
in  which  they  are  recorded  as  having  been  seen. 

as  of  equal  importance.  The  work  was  of  necesbity  somewhat  tedious,  and 
the  whole  enquiry,  as  said,  extended  over  about  four  years.  But  the  results 
are  believed  to  be  as  nearly  accurate  as  any  extensive  enquiry  of  the  kind 
could  furnish.  That  apart  from  the  influence  of  forgetfulness,  discussed 
in  the  text,  the  results  were  not  entirely  accurate  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
the  census  papers  handed  in  by  members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
search committee  and  by  medical  men  and  psychologists  showed  a  distinctly 
higher  proportion  of  affirmative  answers,  viz.  :  g%  from  men,  and  17.1^  from 
women,  or  12.8  for  both  sexes.  This  probably  indicates  that  the  expert 
questioner  gave  rather  more  time  to  the  enquiry,  and  exacted  from  the  per- 
sons questioned  a  more  searching  interrogation  of  their  memory.  As  a  con- 
trast with  the  method  pursued  by  our  committee,  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
the  French  astronomer,  M.  Flammarion,  inserted  a  similar  question  in  sev- 
eral Parisian  papers,  asking  readers  in  the  event  of  their  having  had  no  such 
impressions,  to  reply  to  him  on  a  post-card.  In  the  event  he  received  2456 
negative  and  1824  affirmative  answers;  of  the  latter  overgo;?  were  coinci- 
dental. On  the  figures  so  obtained  M.  Flammarion  thinks  himself  justified 
in  arguing  as  follows  : 

"  If  these  things  were  hallucinations,  illusions,  freaks  of  the  imagination, 
the  number  of  those  not  coinciding  with  a  death  would  be  considerably 
greater  than  the  number  which  do  so  coincide.  Now  we  find  the  contrary 
has  been  the  case.  My  enquiry  proves  it  to  demonstration.  I  asked  my 
readers  to  be  good  enough  to  send  me  all  cases,  whether  coincidental  or  not. 
[Of  the  cases  sent]  there  were  not  more  than  seven  or  eight  per  cent,  of  ap- 
paritions without  coincidences.  Precisely  the  reverse  ought  to  have  been 
the  case  if  we  were  dealing  with  hallucinations"  {L'/nconnu,  et  les problemes 
psychiqties,  p.  222). 

'  About  300  cases  in  which  the  details  of  the  experience  were  given  only 
at  second-hand  are  excluded  from  this  total. 


I04         On  Hallucinations  in  General 


Visual  Hallucinations' 


Within 
the  last 
lo  years 


More 

than  lo 

years 

ago 


Un- 
dated 


Of 
Living 
Persons 


Immediately  after  wak- 
ing  

Awake  in  bed 

Up 

Out  of  doors 

Unstated 


Totals. 


Of 

Dead 
Persons 


Immediately  after  wak- 
ing  

Awake  in  bed 

Up 

Out  of  doors 

Unstated 


Totals. 


62 


85 


Unrecog- 
nised 


Immediately  after  wak- 
ing  

Awake  in  bed 

Up 

Out  of  doors 

L  Unstated 


Totals. 


126 


29 


77 

149 

70 

13 


352 


163 


36 
90 
III 
67 
II 


315 


Incompletely 
Developed 
Apparitions 


Immediately  after  wak- 
ing  

Awake  in  bed 

Up 

Out  of  doors 

,  Unstated 


Totals. 


60 


All  other 

Visual 

Hallucinations 


Immediately  after  wak- 
ing   

Awake  in  bed 

Up 

Out  of  doors 

',  Unstated 


143 


Totals 


55 


64 


Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x..  p.  45. 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         105 

It  will  be  seen  that  three  quarters  of  the  visual 
hallucinations  represented  a  lifelike  human  figure, 
in  the  majority  of  cases  known  to  the  percipient. 
It  will  further  be  noted  that,  in  view  of  the  com- 
paratively short  period  of  our  waking  hours  spent 
in  bed,  a  disproportionately  large  number  of  the 
hallucinations  occurred  under  such  conditions — a 
fact  due  no  doubt  largely  to  the  quiescence  and 
freedom  from  disturbance  obtaining. 

Apart  from  their  interest  for  psychologists  gen- 
erally as  representing  an  incursion  into  a  field  hith- 
erto practically  unexplored — the  hallucinations  of 
sane  and  healthy  persons^ — the  results  of  the  cen- 
sus have  an  important  bearing  upon  the  evidence 
for  the  telepathic  hypothesis.  As  already  pointed 
out,  in  most  experiments  at  close  quarters  we  can 
calculate  with  some  approach  to  exactness  the  prob- 
abilities against  the  results  coinciding  by  chance  ; 

*  The  question  "  Were  you  in  good  health  ?  "  was  asked  of  all  those  who 
replied  "  Yes"  to  the  census  enquiry.  It  appears  that  of  the  hallucinations 
included  in  the  census  ill-health  was  present  in  123  cases,  or  between  7 
and  8  per  cent.  But  the  ill-health  was  in  most  cases  of  a  quite  minor  char- 
acter— "nervous  and  dyspeptic"  or  "a  little  below  par"  being  typical 
descriptions.  The  hallucinations  dealt  with  are,  therefore,  not  due  in  the 
majority  of  cases  to  ill-health.  Nor  are  they  due,  in  most  cases,  to  emo- 
tional disturbances:  grief,  anxiety,  depression,  etc.,  are  recorded  as  being 
present  in  only  220  cases  out  of  the  1622 — or  between  13  and  14  per  cent. 

It  should  be  added  that  these  hallucinations  of  the  sane  present  marked 
differences  from  the  hallucinations  observed  to  be  associated  with  disease  or 
insanity.  The  census  hallucinations  are  mostly  isolated  and  trivial  ex- 
periences ;  they  carry  with  them,  as  a  rule,  no  feeling  of  terror  or  disgust  ; 
and  in  their  realistic  appearance  and  other  details  they  differ  markedly  from 
hallucinations  associated  with,  e,  g.  visceral  diseases.  (See  the  Goulstonian 
Lectures  for  1901,  by  Henry  Head,  M.  D.,  and  Mr.  Piddington's  review, 
Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xix.,  p.  267.) 


io6         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

our  difficulty  in  such  cases  is  to  eliminate  the  pos- 
sible operation  of  hypersesthesia,  etc.  But  when, 
as  in  case  No.  33,  Prince  Duleep  Singh  sees  the 
vision  of  his  father  who  is  dying  hundreds  of  miles 
away,  we  know  that  no  intimation  or  anticipation 
of  the  death  can  have  reached  him  by  normal  means. 
But  we  are  not  therefore  entitled  to  assume  a 
causal  connection  between  the  hallucination  and 
the  death.  Though  not  so  common  as  dreams, 
hallucinations,  it  may  be  objected,  are  of  sufficiently 
frequent  occurrence  to  render  a  chance  coincidence 
not  impossible.  To  justify  the  inference  that  the 
Prince's  vision,  and  the  other  similar  visions  pre- 
served in  our  records,  really  point  to  a  causal  con- 
nection with  the  death  of  the  person  represented, 
we  must  be  able  to  show  that  coincidences  of  this 
kind  are  more  numerous  than  the  frequency  of  non- 
coincident  hallucinations  would  account  for.  The 
census  gives  us  the  material  for  the  calculation 
required.  But  the  figures  cannot,  it  must  be  pre- 
mised, be  taken  at  their  face  value.  If  we  turn 
again  to  the  table  quoted  on  page  104  we  shall 
note,  as  a  significant  fact,  that  the  hallucinations 
recorded  as  occurring  during  the  previous  ten  years 
approach  pretty  nearly  to  the  sum  of  all  the  rest. 
Further,  on  a  closer  analysis  of  the  records  the 
committee  found  that  the  most  recent  year  was 
more  prolific  than  the  rest  of  the  decade ;  the  most 
recent  quarter  again  was  more  prolific  than  the 
other  quarters ;  the  most  recent  month  more  pro- 
lific than  the  rest  of  the  quarter.     It  is  clear  that 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         107 

forgetfulness  has  seriously  vitiated  the  results. 
After  a  careful  estimate  of  all  the  circumstances 
the  committee  came  to  the  conclusion  that  to 
arrive  at  the  actual  number  of  hallucinations  ex- 
perienced by  the  persons  questioned,  the  numbers 
given  should  be  multiplied  by  at  least  4,  and  pos- 
sibly more.^ 

If  we  include  only  recognised  and  realistic  ap- 
paritions of  the  human  figure,  and  subtract  all 
doubtful  cases,  all  cases  occurring  before  the  age 
of  ten,  and  all  cases  where  the  percipient  had  more 
than  one  similar  experience,  we  find  that  we  have 
322  cases  to  deal  with.  Multiplied  by  4,  these 
amount  to  1288,  or  in  round  numbers  1300.  But 
of  the  322  we  find  62  ^  coincided  with  a  death — i.  e., 
occurred  within  twelve  hours,  on  one  side  or  the 
other,  of  the  death  of  the  person  represented. 
Now  of  the  62  death  coincidences,  1 1  are  reported 
as  occurring  in  the  previous  ten  years,  and  51  be- 
fore that  date.  So  far  from  being  forgotten,  the 
hallucinations  coinciding  with  death  appear  to  be 
remembered  too  well.  It  is  clear  that  as  the  ex- 
perience recedes  into  the  past  the  closeness  of  the 
coincidence  is  apt  to  be  magnified,  or  the  narrative 
in  some  other  way  unconsciously  improved.^    After 

'  For  details  of  the  estimate  see  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  pp.  62-69. 

*  Actually  65,  but  three  of  the  cases  are  strongly  suspected  of  having  been 
"  imported"  into  the  census — i.  e.,  the  persons  who  collected  the  answers 
in  these  three  cases  knew  of  the  vision  beforehand,  and  it  is  believed  that 
but  for  this  knowledge  they  would  not  have  questioned  these  particular 
persons.     These  cases  are  therefore  excluded  from  the  calculation. 

^  The  average  age  of  the  narrators  of  death  coincidences  is  46  (that  of 
our  informants  generally  being  only  40),  so  that  as  experiences  under  10  years 


io8         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

making-  liberal  allowance  for  this  unconscious  exag- 
geration, and  for  another  disturbing  cause — the 
possible  influence  of  selection  on  the  results,^ — the 
probable  number  of  death  coincidences  is  reduced 
to  30. 

We  have  then  these  30  coincidences  with  death 
in  1300  apparitions.  But  the  death  rate  for  the 
last  completed  decade  (i  881-1890)  of  the  period 
under  review  was  19.15 — i.  e.,  the  probability  that 
any  person  taken  at  random  would  die  within  any 
given  24  hours  was  19.15  in  365,000  =  about  i  in 
19,000.  If  there  is  no  causal  connection  between 
the  hallucination  and  the  death,  we  should  find  but 

I  coincidence  in  19,000 — we  actually  find  i  in  43. 
We  may  dismiss,  then,  the  suggestion  of  explana- 
tion by  chance  coincidence.  But  it  need  hardly  be 
said  that  we  are  not,  therefore,  entitled  to  claim  that 
we  have  found  an  irrefragable  proof  of  telepathy. 
The  coincidences,  it  is  true,  did  not  occur  by 
chance,  if  the  facts  have  been  correctly  reported. 
But  on  the  one  hand,  the  frequency  of  non-coin- 

of  age  are  excluded,  there  are  26  years  included  in  the  remoter  period.     If 

II  experiences  occur  in  10  years,  we  should  look  for  29  at  most  in  the 
remaining  26  years — we  find  51  ! 

'  The  non-coincidental  hallucinations,  which  are  much  less  interesting, 
would  probably  not  be  known  beforehand  to  the  collector  :  and  even  if  they 
were,  the  collector  would  not  be  likely  to  go  out  of  his  way  to  collect  such 
an  account.  Further,  apparitions  at  the  time  of  death  are  naturally  more 
talked  about,  the  collectors  would  probably  know  of  some  such  amongst 
their  acquaintance,  and  unless,  in  recording  the  answers,  they  systematically 
canvassed  the  whole  of  the  neighbourhood  accessible  to  them,  it  is  almost 
certain  that  they  would  yield  to  the  temptation  to  "  bag  "  a  death  coin- 
cidence, even  though  it  did  not,  properly  speaking,  come  within  their 
ground.     See  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  pp.  210  and  243. 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         log 

cidental  hallucinations  may  be  much  greater,  owing 
to  the  operation  of  forgetfulness,  than  the  census 
would  indicate  ;  on  the  other  hand,  there  may  have 
been  much  more  exaggeration  in  the  coincidences 
than  we  have  allowed  for. 

It  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  any  error  in  our 
estimate  of  the  rate  of  forgetfulness  should  be  suf- 
ficient to  affect  the  conclusion  to  a  material  extent. 
To  adopt  the  alternative  explanation  is  to  assume, 
not  merely  that  our  informants  generally  have  been 
guilty  of  serious  inaccuracies,  but  that  the  alleged 
"percipients,"  together  with  their  friends  who  have 
furnished  corroborative  testimony,  have  given  de- 
tailed reports  of  incidents  which  never  took  place, 
and  that  in  some  cases  notes  have  been  made  in 
diaries  supporting  these  fictitious  reports.  In  other 
words,  we  have  to  suppose  the  occurrence  of  nu- 
merous hallucinations,  not  of  sense  but  of  memory, 
shared  in  many  cases  by  several  members  of  a 
household.  Such  an  assumption  is  perhaps  not 
inconceivable  ;  but  it  involves  violent  improbabil- 
ities, and  it  can  scarcely  at  present  claim  any  ex- 
ternal support.  At  any  rate  those  who  carefully 
weigh  the  evidence  will,  no  doubt,  agree  that 
neither  assumption  will  justify  us,  without  further 
enquiry,  in  summarily  dismissing  the  incidents 
reported.^ 

But  even   if   a  causal  connection   between   the 

•  For  full  details  of  the  estimates  cited  in  the  text,  the  reader  is  referred 
to  the  "  Report  of  the  Census  Committee,"  Proceedings^  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x., 
pp.  207-251. 


no         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

apparition  and  the  death  of  the  person  represented 
is  admitted,  it  is  feh  by  some  that  the  transition 
from  the  experimental  cases  of  thought  transference 
to  these  much  more  impressive  spontaneous  ap- 
pearances is  so  violent  as  to  render  it  doubtful 
whether  both  sets  of  phenomena  can  be  referred 
to  the  same  category.  There  are  two  main  points 
in  which  the  coincident  hallucinations  now  under 
consideration  differ  from  the  mass  of  the  experi- 
mental evidence :  (i)  the  distance  over  which  the 
force  is  assumed  to  operate  is  very  much  greater, 
(2)  in  the  experimental  cases  it  is  the  idea  actively 
present  to  the  agent — the  image  of  the  card  or 
number — which  intrudes  into  the  consciousness  of 
the  percipient ;  but  in  these  other  cases  the  actual 
percept  represents  what  can  at  most  have  occupied 
but  a  subordinate  place  in  the  thoughts  of  the  pre- 
sumed agent — to  wit,  his  own  personal  appearance. 
As  regards  the  first  point,  it  is  true  that  in  the 
experimental  cases  we  have  little  evidence  for  the 
operation  of  telepathy  even  at  a  distance  of  a  few 
miles;  and  that  in  most  experiments  it  has  been 
found  difihcult  to  secure  success  even  when  the  two 
parties  were  in  adjoining  rooms.  But,  as  shown  in 
a  preceding  chapter,  there  are  circumstances  which, 
apart  from  any  actual  diminution  in  the  telepathic 
energy,  would  militate  against  success  when  agent 
and  percipient  are  no  longer  in  the  same  room. 
And  in  most  of  the  spontaneous  cases,  it  must  be 
remembered,  the  emotional  energy  liberated,  on 
which  the  strength  of  the  telepathic  impulse  seems 


On  Hallucinations  in  General  m 

to  depend,  must  be  immeasurably  greater  than  in 
tedious  experiments  with  cards  and  pictures.  To 
a  man  whose  experience  of  illumination  was  re- 
stricted to  a  rushlight  it  would  appear  incredible 
that  the  same  familiar  energy  could  cross  the  gulf 
which  separates  the  earth  from  Sirius. 

As  regards  the  second  point,  the  difference  in 
the  nature  of  the  impression  made  upon  the  per- 
cipient's mind  may  probably  throw  some  light  on 
the  mechanism  of  the  transmission.  In  experi- 
mental cases  we  often  meet  with  the  transmission 
of  a  detailed  scene.  It  is  but  rarely  in  the  spon- 
taneous cases — and  then  as  a  rule  only  in  dreams 
or  some  state  analogous  to  somnambulic  clairvoy- 
ance— that  we  find  details  of  the  agent's  actual 
appearance  and  surroundings  accurately  reflected 
in  the  percipient's  mind.  The  apparition  commonly 
consists  simply  of  a  figure,  clothed  as  the  percipient 
was  accustomed  to  see  the  agent  clothed ;  whereas 
to  be  true  to  life  the  phantasm  would  as  a  rule 
have  to  appear  in  bed.  In  cases  where  the  vision 
gives  no  information  as  to  the  agent's  clothing  and 
surroundings  generally — and,  as  already  said,  such 
cases  form  the  great  majority  of  the  well  attested 
narratives — we  may  suppose  that  what  is  trans- 
mitted is  not  any  part  of  the  superficial  content  of 
the  agent's  consciousness,  but  an  impression  from 
the  underlying  massive  and  permanent  elements 
which  represent  his  personal  identity.  The  per- 
cipient's imagination  is  clearly  competent  to  clothe 
such  an  impression  with  appropriate  imagery,  must 


112         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

indeed  so  clothe  it  if  It  is  to  rise  into  consciousness 
at  all. 

But  fortunately  we  are  not  compelled  to  make 
the  violent  transition  referred  to  ;  for  some  of  the 
most  remarkable  hallucinations  of  which  we  have 
authentic  records  have  been  produced  experiment- 
ally. Some  instances  of  the  kind  were  published 
in  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  It  was  after  reading 
the  accounts  there  given  that  Mr.  Clarence  God- 
frey, a  friend  of  my  own,  determined  to  make  a 
similar  experiment  on  his  own  account.  He  wrote 
to  me  on  the  i6th  November,  1886,  as  follows : 

No.  28,     From  Mr.  Clarence  Godfrey  ' 

I  was  so  impressed  by  the  account  on  p.  105  [of  Phantasms 
of  the  Living,  vol.  i.]  that  I  determined  to  put  the  matter  to  an 
experiment. 

Retiring  at  10.45  (o^  the  15th  November,  1886),  I  deter- 
mined to  appear,  if  possible,  to  a  friend,  and  accordingly  I  set 
myself  to  work  with  all  the  volitional  and  determinative  energy 
which  I  possess  to  stand  at  the  foot  of  her  bed.  I  need  not 
say  that  I  never  dropped  the  slightest  hint  beforehand  as  to 
my  intention,  such  as  could  mar  the  experiment,  nor  had  I 
mentioned  the  subject  to  her.  As  the  "agent  "  I  may  describe 
my  own  experiences. 

Undoubtedly  the  imaginative  faculty  was  brought  exten- 
sively into  play,  as  well  as  the  volitional,  for  I  endeavoured  to 
translate  myself ,  spiritually,  into  her  room,  and  to  attract  her 
attention,  as  it  were,  while  standing  there.  My  effort  was 
sustained  for  perhaps  eight  minutes,  after  which  I  felt  tired, 
and  was  soon  asleep. 

The  next  thing  I  was  conscious  of  was  meeting  the  lady 
next  morning  (/.  ^.,  in  a  dream,  I  suppose  ?),  and  asking  her  at 

'  Studies  in  Psychical  Research,  by  F.  Podmore,  pp.  249-252. 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         113 

once  if  she  had  seen  me  last  night.  The  reply  came,  "Yes." 
"  How  ?  "  I  inquired.  Then  in  words  strangely  clear  and  low, 
like  a  well  audible  whisper,  came  the  answer,  "  I  was  sitting 
beside  you."  These  words,  so  clear,  awoke  me  instantly,  and 
I  felt  I  must  have  been  dreaming;  but  on  reflection  I  remem- 
bered what  I  had  been  "  willing  "  before  I  fell  asleep,  and  it 
struck  me,  "  This  must  be  a  re^ex  action  from  the  percipient." 
My  watch  showed  3.40  a.m.  The  following  is  what  I  wrote 
immediately  in  pencil,  standing  in  my  night  dress:  "As  I 
reflected  upon  those  clear  words,  they  struck  me  as  being  quite 
intuitive^  I  mean  subjective,  and  to  have  proceeded  from  within, 
as  my  own  conviction,  rather  than  a  communication  from  any 
one  else.  And  yet  I  can't  remember  her  face  at  all,  as  one 
can  after  a  vivid  dream." 

But  the  words  were  uttered  in  a  clear,  quick  tone,  which 
was  most  remarkable,  and  awoke  me  at  once. 

My  friend,  in  the  note  with  which  she  sent  me  the  enclosed 
account  of  her  own  experience,  says:  "I  remember  the  man 
put  all  the  lamps  out  soon  after  I  came  upstairs,  and  that 
is  only  done  about  a  quarter  to  four." 

Mr.  Godfrey  received  from  the  percipient  on  the 
1 6th  November  an  account  of  her  side  of  the  ex- 
perience, and  at  his  request  she  wrote  as  follows  : 

Yesterday  —  viz.,  the  morning  of  November  i6th,  1886 — 
about  half-past  three  o'clock,  I  woke  up  with  a  start  and  an 
idea  that  some  one  had  come  into  the  room.  I  heard  a 
curious  sound,  but  fancied  it  might  be  the  birds  in  the  ivy 
outside.  Next  I  experienced  a  strange  restless  longing  to 
leave  the  room  and  go  downstairs.  This  feeling  became  so 
overpowering  that  at  last  I  rose  and  lit  a  candle,  and  went 
down,  thinking  if  I  could  get  some  soda-water  it  might  have  a 
quieting  effect.  On  returning  to  my  room  I  saw  Mr.  Godfrey 
standing  under  the  large  window  on  the  staircase.  He  was 
dressed  in  his  usual  style,  and  with  an  expression  on  his  face 
that  I  have  noticed  when  he  has  been  looking  very  earnestly 


114         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

at  anything.  He  stood  there,  and  I  held  up  the  candle  and 
gazed  at  him  for  three  or  four  seconds  in  utter  amazement, 
and  then,  as  I  passed  up  the  staircase,  he  disappeared.  The 
impression  left  on  my  mind  was  so  vivid  that  I  fully  intended 
waking  a  friend  who  occupied  the  same  room  as  myself,  but 
remembering  that  I  should  only  be  laughed  at  as  romantic 
and  imaginative,  refrained  from  doing  so. 

I  was  not  frightened  at  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Godfrey, 
but  felt  much  excited,  and  could  not  sleep  afterwards. 

On  the  2 1  St  of  the  same  month  I  heard  a  full 
account    of   the    incident   given    above   from    Mr. 

Godfrey,  and  on  the  day  following  from  Mrs. . 

Mrs.  told  me  that  the  figure  appeared  quite 

distinct  and  lifelike  at  first,  though  she  could  not 
remember  to  have  noticed  more  than  the  upper 
part  of  the  body.     As  she  looked,  it  grew  more  and 

more  shadowy,  and  finally  faded  away.      Mrs. ,  it 

should  be  added,  had  previously  seen  two  phan- 
tasmal figures  representing  a  parent  whom  she  had 
recently  lost.  ^ 

Mr.    Godfrey   at   our   request   made  two  other 

trials,  without,  of  course,  letting  Mrs.  know  his 

intention.  The  first  of  these  attempts  was  without 
result,  owing  perhaps  to  the  date  chosen,  as  he  was 
aware  at  the  time,  being  unsuitable.  But  in  a  trial 
made  on  the  7th  December,  1886,  complete  success 

was  again   attained.      Mrs. has  had  no  visual 

hallucinations  except  on  the  occasions  mentioned. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  dress  of  the  apparition 

'  These  details  are  taken  from  notes  made  by  me  immediately  after  the 
interview. 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         115 

represented  that  in  which  the  percipient  was  accus- 
tomed to  see  Mr.  Godfrey,  not  the  dress  which  he 
was  actually  wearing  at  the  time.  If  the  image  in 
these  cases  is  in  fact  nothing  but  the  outward  ex- 
pression of  the  percipient's  thought,  this  result  is  of 
course  what  we  should  naturally  expect  to  find. 

The  next  case  is  remarkable  because  three  per- 
sons in  the  house  appear  to  have  been  affected  by 
the  agent's  experiment.  Mr.  F.  W.  Rose  had,  he 
tells  us,  mesmerised  Mrs.  E.,  the  percipient,  on 
several  occasions.  Some  time  in  1891  or  1892  he 
endeavoured  "  to  send  his  astral  body "  to  Mrs. 
E.  On  the  first  attempt  Mrs.  E.  spent  a  rest- 
less night  and  the  maid  was  disturbed  by  hear- 
ing a  bell  ringing.  Mr.  Rose  mentioned  his  at- 
tempt two  or  three  days  afterwards.  On  the  second 
occasion — Mr.  Rose  had,  of  course,  not  intimated 
beforehand  his  intention  of  experimenting — Mrs. 
E.  and  her  daughter  Mrs.  A.  were  both  disturbed. 

No,  29 
Mrs.  A.,  the  daughter,  writes^ : 

Feb.  5th,  1896. 
I  cannot  remember  the  date  ;  but  one  night  two  or  three 
years  ago,  I  came  back  from  the  theatre  to  my  mother's  flat  at 
6,  S. -street ;  and  after  I  had  been  into  her  bedroom  and  told 
her  all  about  it,  I  went  to  bed  about  i  a.  m.  I  had  not  been 
asleep  long  when  I  started  up  frightened,  fancying  that  I  had 
heard  some  one  walk  down  the  passage  towards  my  mother's 
room;  but  hearing  nothing  more  went  again  to  sleep,  I  started 
up  alarmed  in  the  same  way  three  or  four  times  before  dawn. 

^Journal,  S.  P,  R.,  May,  1896. 


ii6         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

In  the  morning,  upon  inquiry,  my  mother  (who  was  ill  at  the 
time)  only  told  me  she  had  had  a  very  disturbed  night. 

Then  I  asked  my  brother,  who  told  me  that  he  had  suffered 
in  the  same  way  as  I  had,  starting  up  several  times  in  a 
frightened  manner.  On  hearing  this,  my  mother  then  told  me 
that  she  had  seen  an  apparition  of  Mr.  Rose. 

Later  in  the  day  Mr.  Rose  came  in,  and  my  mother  asked 
him  casually  if  he  had  been  doing  anything  last  night  ;  upon 
which  he  told  us  that  he  had  gone  to  bed  willing  that  he 
should  visit  and  appear  to  us.  We  made  him  promise  not  to 
repeat  the  experiment. 

A  night  or  so  just  before,  I  remember  the  servant  came  into 
my  mother's  bedroom,  alarmed,  at  3  a.m.;  she  said  she  had 
heard  the  electric  bell  ring.  The  bell  at  that  time  of  night  is 
inaccessible  to  the  casual  passer-by,  as  the  outer  door  is  then 
closed.  The  servant,  I  believe,  heard  it  more  than  once  ;  she 
cried  and  fancied  it  was  an  omen  of  her  mother's  death. 

Mrs.  E.,  in  narrating  the  incident  of  the  elec- 
tric bell,  adds  that  she  and  Mrs.  A.  had  both  passed 
a  restless  and  uncomfortable  night  on  that  occasion  ; 
and  that  on  the  Sunday  following  Mr.  Rose  happened 
to  mention  that  he  had  tried  on  that  day  to  "  send 
his  spook."     Mrs.  E.  then  continues  : 

Feb.  I2th,  1896. 

.  .  .  Some  weeks  passed,'  when  I  was  struck  down  with 
a  bad  attack  of  influenza,  and  again  my  daughter  came  to 
nurse  me. 

I  had  quite  recovered,  but  had  not  yet  been  out  of  my  room> 
but  was  to  go  into  the  drawing-room  next  day.  On  this  par- 
ticular night,  my  daughter  had  gone  to  the  theatre  and  my  son 
remained  with  me.     He  had  bid  me  good-night  about  half-past 

'  Mrs.  A.,  who  has  just  read  this,  seems  to  think  now  that  the  two  occur- 
rences were  separated  by  some  weeks,  not  days  as  she  wrote  in  her  statement 
(Note  by  collector). 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         117 

ten  and  gone  to  his  room,  and  I  lay  reading,  when  suddenly  a 
strange  creepy  sensation  came  over  me,  and  I  felt  my  eyes 
drawn  towards  the  left  hand  side  of  the  room.  I  felt  I  must 
look,  and  there  distinct  against  the  curtain  was  a  blue  lumin- 
ous mist. 

I  could  not  for  some  time  move  my  eyes  away,  and  all  the 
time  I  was  really  terrified,  for  I  thought  it  was  something  un- 
canny. I  wished  to  call  my  son,  but  fought  down  the  feeling, 
knowing  I  should  only  upset  him  if  he  thought  I  was  nervous, 
and  possibly  they  would  think  I  was  going  to  be  ill  again.  So 
I  battled  down  my  fears,  and  making  up  my  mind  it  was  all 
imagination,  turned  round  with  my  back  to  this  misty  light 
and  continued  my  book.  Soon  the  feeling  of  fear  passed 
away;  but  all  desire  for  sleep  had  also  gone,  and  for  a  long 
time  I  lay  reading, — when  again  quite  suddenly  came  the 
dread  and  the  feeling  of  awe. 

This  time  I  was  impelled  to  cast  my  eyes  downward  to  the 
side  of  my  bed,  and  there,  creeping  upwards  towards  me,  was 
the  same  blue  luminous  mist.  I  was  too  terrified  to  move,  and 
remember  keeping  my  book  straight  up  before  my  face  as 
though  to  ward  off  a  blow,  at  the  same  time  exerting  all  my 
strength  of  will  and  determination  not  to  be  afraid, — when 
suddenly,  as  if  with  a  jerk,  above  the  top  of  my  book  came  the 
brow  and  eyes  of  Mr.  Rose.  In  an  instant  all  fear  left  me. 
I  dropped  my  book  with  an  exclamation  not  complimentary, 
for  then  I  knew  that  Mr.  Rose  had  been  trying  the  same  thing 
again.     In  one  moment  mist  and  face  were  gone. 

It  Is  unfortunate  that  in  this  case  no  notes  were 
made  by  either  party,  and  that  the  date  of  the 
experience  cannot  now  be  fixed.  But  Mr.  Rose 
has  given  us  a  concordant  account,  so  that  the 
coincidence  is  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  three 
witnesses. 

In  the  case  next  to  be  quoted,  we  have  accounts 
from  both  agent  and  percipient  written  before  the 


ii8         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

result  was  known.  The  case,  moreover,  presents 
other  features  of  interest.  Miss  Danvers  and  Mrs. 
Fleetwood  (both  names  are  fictitious)  are  ladies 
who  were  well  known  to  the  late  Frederic  Myers. 
He  asked  Miss  Danvers  to  endeavour  to  appear  to 
Mrs.  Fleetwood  without  communicating  her  inten- 
tion to  that  lady.  On  June  20,  1894,  he  received 
the  following  letter,  dated  19th  June,  with  two 
enclosures : 

No.  30.     From  Miss  Danvers  ' 

"On  Sunday  night  at  12  p.m.,  I  tried  to  appear  to  Mrs. 
Fleetwood  [at  a  distance  of  about  nine  miles]  and  succeeded 
in  feeling  as  if  I  were  really  in  her  room.  I  had  previously 
written  my  statement,  which  I  enclose,  together  with  Mrs. 
Fleetwood's,  which  she  has  just  sent  me.  She  wrote  it  also  at 
the  tune,  not  knowing  I  was  trying  to  appear.  I  was  lying 
down,  not  kneeling,  but  the  other  details  are  correct." 

A  memorandum,  signed  by  Miss  Danvers,  was  enclosed,  as 
follows:  "June  17,  1894,  12  p.m.  I  write  this  just  before 
trying  to  appear  to  Mrs.  Fleetwood.  My  hair  is  down  and  I 
am  going  to  lie  down  and  try  to  appear  with  my  eyes  closed." 

Also  a  memorandum,  signed  by  Mrs.  Fleetwood,  as  follows  : 
*'  Sunday  night,  June  17,  1894. — I  woke  from  my  first  sleep  to 
see  Edith  Danvers  apparently  kneeling  on  an  easy  chair  by  ray 
bedside,  her  profile  turned  towards  me,  her  hair  flowing,  and 
eyes  closed,  or  looking  quite  down.  I  felt  startled  at  first,  as 
I  always  do,  on  seeing  visions  in  waking  moments,  but  deter- 
mined to  keep  quiet ;  and  after  I  was  fully  awake  and  able  to 
reason  with  myself,  the  figure  still  remained,  and  then  gradu- 
ally faded  like  a  dissolving  view.  I  got  up  and  looked  at  the 
clock.  It  was  just  twelve.  I  was  alone  in  the  room.  As  I 
now  write,  it  is  about  two  minutes  after  twelve." 

In  conversation  on  June  23rd  [Mr.  Myers  writes]  Miss  Dan- 

^  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  p.  418. 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         119 

vers  told  me  that  she  had  seen,  in  a  sort  of  flash,  Mrs.  Fleetwood 
start  up  in  bed,  rest  on  her  elbow,  and  look  towards  her.  She 
had  not  been  clearly  aware  of  her  own  attitude  in  Mrs.  Fleet- 
wood's room,  although  she  seemed  aware  of  her  position,  which 
corresponded  to  the  place  towards  which  Mrs.  Fleetwood 
gazed.  Miss  Danvers  had  never  previously  made  notes  of  an 
experiment,  and  had  not  seen  the  importance  of  writing  down 
this  point  at  once,  nor  had  she  felt  confident  that  Mrs.  Fleet- 
wood really  saw  her.  Mrs.  Fleetwood  also  sent  me  a  letter 
of  Miss  Danvers  to  herself,  dated  June  i8th,  in  which,  among 
various  other  matters,  Miss  Danvers  asks,  "  Have  I  appeared 
to  you  at  all  ?  I  tried  last  night,  but  you  may  not  have 
been  alone."  There  is,  of  course,  therefore,  no  proof  that 
Miss  Danvers's  sense  of  invasion  of  the  room  was  more  than 
subjective. 

In  a  later  experiment  Miss  Danvers  claims  to 
have  seen  in  Mrs.  Fleetwood's  room  the  third  vol- 
ume of  Marcella,  which  she  regards  as  a  proof  that 
she,  on  her  side,  acquired  supernormal  knowledge 
of  Mrs.  Fleetwood's  surroundings.  Mr.  Godfrey 
also,  it  will  be  remembered,  believed  that  he  had 
received  a  reflex  impression  from  the  percipient. 
It  is  possible  that  in  every  case  of  telepathic  action 
the  influence  is  reciprocal.  If  it  were  so,  the  fact 
would  in  many  cases  necessarily  escape  observation ; 
since  in  some  of  the  most  striking  instances  the 
agent  was  on  his  deathbed,  or  was  passing  through 
some  other  crisis,  in  the  stress  of  which  the  com- 
paratively feeble  telepathic  message  would  be  likely 
to  pass  unregarded.  There  are,  at  any  rate,  very 
few  well  attested  cases  in  which  there  is  evidence, 
beyond  the  narrator's  own  belief  to  that  effect,  for  a 
reciprocal  affection.     We  have  two  cases,  however, 


I20         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

in  which  the  narrator  had  an  unusually  vivid  dream 
of  being  at  home ;  in  the  first  case  unexplained 
footsteps  were  simultaneously  heard  in  the  house 
by  five  persons  and  recognised  as  resembling  those 
of  the  dreamer.  In  the  second  case,  the  figure  of 
the  dreamer  was  actually  seen  and  heard  in  the 
house.^  In  a  third  case  the  narrator  awoke  under 
the  impression  that  she  was  a  child  again  in  the  old 
home  and  called  on  her  sister,  "Jessie,  Jessie." 
The  cry  awoke  her  husband  who  testifies  to  the 
fact.  That  same  night  her  sister — 300  or  400  miles 
away — was  awakened  by  hearing  her  name  twice 
called  in  the  sister's  voice.^  In  another  case  the 
husband,  absent  from  home  on  a  journey,  willed 
himself  to  his  wife's  bedside  and  seemed  to  himself 
to  be  standing  there.  His  figure  was  actually  seen 
at  the  time  by  his  wife  at  her  bedside.^ 

In  none  of  these  cases,  as  said,  is  there  clear 
evidence  of  reciprocity  ;  but  they  certainly  indicate 
that  one  of  the  conditions  of  telepathic  affection  at 
a  distance  may  be  a  clear  realisation  on  the  agent's 
part  of  the  percipient's  surroundings.  In  the  fol- 
lowing case  a  reciprocal  hallucination  was  produced, 
but  there  was  no  recognition  of  the  fact  at  the  time 
by  either  percipient ;  nor  was  there  any  emotional 
disturbance  or  exceptional  crisis  to  account  for  the 
coincidence.  The  occurrence  was  investigated  by 
Mr.  A.  W.  Orr  of  DIdsbury,  who  enclosed  the  two 
following  accounts  on  July  26,  1905. 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  December,  1898, 

2 /^/a'.,  June,  189s.  ^  Ibid. 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         121 

No.  31.     From  Mrs.  Ellen  Green' 

I  had  been  staying  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Ward,  a  retired  Mas- 
ter in  the  Mercantile  Marine,  who  resides  at  Northwood  House, 
Llanishen,  near  Cardiff,  and  on  Tuesday,  June  20th  [1905],  he 
drove  me  over  to  Whitchurch  (about  two  miles  from  Llani- 
shen) where  I  was  to  spend  a  couple  of  days  with  friends,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Berwick.  He  left  me  there  at  about  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  forenoon  and  returned  to  his  home.  On  the  following 
afternoon  at  about  half-past  three  I  was  sitting  alone  in  the 
drawing-room,  Mrs.  Berwick  being  in  her  own  room,  and,  on 
happening  to  look  up,  I  saw  Mr.  Ward  standing  at  the  bay 
window  and  looking  in  at  me  as  though  he  desired  to  speak  to 
me.  He  was  in  his  usual  dress,  and  is  not  a  man  to  be  easily 
mistaken  for  any  one  else.  Thinking  he  had  brought  some 
letters  for  me,  I  rose  hastily  and  went  towards  the  window  call- 
ing to  him  and  waving  my  hand  to  him,  partly  in  greeting  and 
partly  as  a  sign  for  him  to  go  to  the  hall  door,  but  when  I 
reached  the  window  I  was  surprised  not  to  see  him.  I  con- 
cluded, however,  that  he  must  have  gone  to  the  door  without 
my  noticing  and  so  I  hurried  to  the  door  to  let  him  in.  I  was 
exceedingly  surprised  and  alarmed  when  I  opened  the  hall  door 
to  see  nobody  there,  nor  anywhere  about  the  house.  Later 
when  Mrs.  Berwick  came  down  I  told  her — and  also  Mr.  Ber- 
wick— of  my  experience,  and  like  myself  they  felt  extremely 
anxious  lest  some  harm  had  happened  to  Mr.  Ward,  for  whom 
we  all  felt  a  strong  regard. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Berwick,  with  whom  Mrs.  Green 
was  staying,  append  their  signatures,  as  confirming 
the  accuracy  of  the  account. 

Captain  Ward's  account  of  his  side  of  the  experi- 
ence is  as  follows : 

Northwood,  Birchgrove,  Cardiff, 

2nd  August,  1905. 

I  have  pleasure  in  reply  to  your  letter  to  give  you  here  the 

•  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  February,  1906. 


122         On  Hallucinations  in  General 

facts  of  the  incident  as  it  actually  happened.  On  the  20th 
June  last  I  drove  Mrs.  Green  in  my  pony  trap  to  Mr.  Berwick's 
house  in  Whitchurch,  Cardiff,  and  on  returning  home  to 
above  address,  met  with  an  accident,  being  thrown  out  of  my 
trap  backwards,  hurting  my  neck  and  ankle.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  the  21st  inst.  I  was  unable  to  leave  the  house,  and  lay 
on  the  sofa  in  my  dining-room,  when  between  the  hours  of 
3  and  4  P.M.  I  distinctly  heard  Mrs.  Green's  voice  outside  the 
front  door  calling  me.  I  managed  to  rise  from  the  couch  and 
look  out  through  the  window  to  call  her  in,  but  found  no  per- 
son there ;  the  time  would  exactly  agree  with  that  when  Mrs. 
Green  saw  my  form  at  Whitchurch. 

This  I  found  out  on  speaking  to  Mrs.  Green  on  Thursday 
the  22d  inst.  I  had  not  seen  her  between  the  20th  and  22nd. 
The  above  are  the  facts  of  the  case. 

Frederick  Ward. 

Mrs.  Green,  it  should  be  added,  is  a  trance 
speaker  on  Spiritualist  platforms  and  a  natural 
clairvoyant,  who  has  had  other  remarkable  experi- 
ences of  the  kind.  The  accounts,  it  will  be  seen, 
were  written  down  within  a  few  weeks  of  the 
occurrences  described;  and  indeed  the  curiously  in- 
conclusive character  of  the  coincidence  affords  in 
itself  some  indication  that  the  narrative  has  not 
been  unconsciously  improved. 

Other  instances  of  possibly  reciprocal  affection 
will  be  found  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  vol.  ii., 
chapter  xiv. ;  and  in  Apparitions  and  Thought 
Transference,  p.  299. 

In  publishing  some  cases  of  the  type  in  1886  Mr. 


On  Hallucinations  in  General         123 

Gurney  pointed  out  that  the  evidence  then  avail- 
able was  "so  small  that  the  genuineness  of  the  type 
might  fairly  be  called  in  question"/  And  the 
twenty-two  years  which  have  elapsed  cannot  be 
said  to  have  added  material  confirmation. 

'  Phantasms,  vol.  ii.,  p.  167. 


CHAPTER  VI 

TELEPATHIC    HALLUCINATIONS 

IN  the  following  pages  a  few  specimen  cases  will 
'-  be  cited  to  illustrate  the  questions  dealt  with 
in  the  last  chapter.  In  the  selection  of  these  ex- 
amples I  have  not,  however,  confined  myself  to  the 
material  brought  together  by  the  census,  but  have 
drawn  also  upon  the  records  accumulated  by  the 
Society  since  1894.  In  view,  however,  of  the  de- 
terioration in  the  quality  of  the  evidence  effected 
by  the  lapse  of  time,  as  shown  in  the  last  chapter,  I 
have  endeavoured  to  select  narratives  where  the 
record  was  comparatively  recent;  in  one  case  only 
of  those  cited  in  the  present  chapter  does  the  in- 
terval between  record  and  event  exceed  ten  years ; 
in  most  of  the  examples  the  account,  if  not  actually 
written  before  the  event  was  known,  is  dated  only  a 
few  days  later. 

In  the  first  case  we  have  to  deal  with  an  auditory 
hallucination.  The  coincidence  in  this  case  may 
appear  very  trivial.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the 
percipient  at  the  time  connected  her  experience 
with  the  presumed  agent.  Further,  it  made  suffi- 
cient impression  upon  her  to  lead  her  to  mention 
it  in  a  letter.  The  correspondence  has  fortunately 
124 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  125 

been  preserved,  and  I  have  been  permitted  to  see 
it  and  to  verify  the  extracts  quoted.  The  account 
which  follows  was  written  in  1889. 

No.  32.     From  Miss  C.  Clark  ' 

I  heard  some  one  sobbing,  one  evening  last  August  (1888), 
about  10  P.M.  It  was  in  the  house,  in  Dunbar,  Scotland,  as  I 
was  preparing  to  go  to  bed.  Feeling  convinced  that  it  was  my 
younger  sister,  I  advised  another  sister  not  to  go  into  the  next 
room,  whence  the  sounds  seemed  to  proceed.  After  waiting 
with  me  for  a  few  minutes,  this  sister  went  into  the  dining-room, 
and  returned  to  me  saying  that  our  youngest  sister  was  in  the 
dining-room  and  not  crying  at  all.  Then  I  at  once  thought 
there  must  be  something  the  matter  with  my  greatest  friend,  a 
girl  of  twenty-four,  then  in  Lincolnshire.  I  wrote  next  day 
asking  her  if  at  that  hour  on  the  previous  night  she  had  been 
crying.  In  her  next  letter  she  said  yes  ;  she  was  suffering  great 
pain  with  toothache,  just  at  the  time,  and  was  unable  to  restrain 
a  few  sobs.     .     .     . 

This  has  been  the  only  similar  experience  I  have  had. 

Cecily  C.   Clark. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  the  contem- 
porary correspondence. 

Extracts  from  Letters 
I.  (From  Miss  Clark  to  Miss  Maughan.) 

Dunbar,  Wednesday,  August  22nd,  1888,  9  P.M. 
Were  you  crying  on  Sunday  night  near  11  o'clock  ?  because 

I  distinctly  heard  some  one  crying,  and  supposed  it  was  H 

in  the  next  room,  but  she  wasn't  there  at  all.    Then  I  thought 
.     that  it  might  be  you.     .     . 

Thursday,  August  23rd,  1888,  4.45  p.m. 
[Continuation  of  letter  of  August  22nd,  not  posted  until 
23rd.— F.  P.] 
'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  p.  291. 


126  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

Thank  you  very  much  for  your  letter  just  come.  I  am  so 
sorry  your  face  is  sore  ;  did  it  make  you  cry  on  Sunday 
night  ?     .     .     . 

II.  (From  Miss  Maughan  to  Miss  Clark,  received  by  the  latter 

on  August  23,  1888.) 

E.  KiRKBY  Vicarage,  Spilsby, 

Tuesday  evening,  August  21st,  1888. 
[Post-mark  Spilsby,  August  22nd,  1888.] 
.     .     .    On  Sunday  we  went  to  see  Wroxham  Broad.    .    .    . 
We  had  an  immense  amount  of  walking  to  do  altogether,  and 
I  think  I  got  a  little  cold  in  my  face  in  the  morning,  and  all 
night  I  suffered  with  it,  and  my  face  is  swelled  still.     .     . 

III.  (From  Miss  Maughan  to   Miss  Clark,  received  by  the 

latter  August  26,  1888.) 

Thursday,  August  23rd,  11  p.m. 

I  am  putting  bread  poultices  on  my  gums.  I  have  never 
had  such  a  huge  swelling  before,  and  it  won't  go  down.  It  is 
so  horribly  uncomfortable.     ,     .     . 

Saturday  afternoon. — Thanks  for  letter.  Yes,  I  was  crying 
on  Sunday  night — only  on  account  of  the  pain.  It  was  awful, 
but  I  only  cried  quietly,  as  Edith  was  asleep.     .     .     . 

But  visual  hallucinations  are  at  once  more  im- 
pressive and  more  valuable  as  evidence.  I  will 
begin  with  a  case  in  which  it  is  hard  to  know 
whether  to  class  the  percipient's  impression  as  an 
illusion  or  a  hallucination.  The  point  is  not  of 
material  importance  since  the  impression,  whatever 
its  nature,  was  of  an  exceptional,  if  not  actually 
unique  character  in  the  percipient's  experience. 
The  vision,  it  will  be  seen,  preceded  the  death  by 
rather  more  than  twelve  hours,  but  occurred  during 
the  period  of  the  fatal  seizure. 


Telepathic  Plallucinations  127 

No.  33.     From  Prince  Victor  Duleep  Singh  ' 

HiGHCLERE  Castle,  Newbury,  November  8.  1894. 

On  Saturday,  October  21,  1893,  I  was  in  Berlin  with  Lord 
Carnarvon,  We  went  to  a  theatre  together  and  returned 
before  midnight.  I  went  to  bed,  leaving,  as  I  always  do,  a 
bright  light  in  the  room  (electric  light).  As  I  lay  in  bed  I 
found  myself  looking  at  an  oleograph  which  hung  on  the  wall 
opposite  my  bed.  I  saw  distinctly  the  face  of  my  father,  the 
Maharajah  Duleep  Singh,  looking  at  me,  as  it  were  out  of  this 
picture  ;  not  like  a  portrait  of  him,  but  his  real  head.  I  con- 
tinued looking  and  still  saw  my  father  looking  at  me  with  an 
intent  expression.  Though  not  in  the  least  alarmed,  I  was  so 
puzzled  that  I  got  out  of  bed  to  see  what  the  picture  really 
was.  It  was  an  oleograph  commonplace  picture  of  a  girl 
holding  a  rose  and  leaning  out  of  a  balcony,  an  arch  forming 
a  background.  The  girl's  face  was  quite  small,  whereas  my 
father's  head  was  the  size  of  life  and  filled  the  frame. 

I  was  in  no  special  anxiety  about  my  father  at  the  time,  and 
had  for  some  years  known  him  to  be  seriously  out  of  health  ; 
but  there  had  been  no  news  to  alarm  me  about  him. 

Next  morning  (Sunday)  I  told  the  incident  to  Lord 
Carnarvon. 

That  evening  (Sunday)  late,  on  returning  home,  Lord  Car- 
narvon brought  two  telegrams  into  my  room  and  handed  them 
to  me.  I  said  at  once,  "  My  father  is  dead."  That  was  the 
fact.  He  had  had  an  apoplectic  seizure  on  the  Saturday  even- 
ing at  about  nine  o'clock,  from  which  he  never  recovered,  but 
continued  unconscious  and  died  on  the  Sunday,  early  in  the 
afternoon.  My  father  had  often  said  to  me  that  if  I  was  not 
with  him  when  he  died  he  would  try  and  come  to  me. 

I  am  not  subject  to  hallucinations,  and  have  only  once  had 
any  similar  experience,  when,  as  a  schoolboy,  I  fancied  I  saw 
the  figure  of  a  dead  schoolboy  who  had  died  in  the  room 
which  I  slept  in  with  my  brother  ;  but  I  attached  no  importance 
to  this. 

Victor  Duleep  Singh. 

^Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  December,  1894. 


128  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

Lord  Carnarvon  writes  : 

I  can  confirm  Prince  V.  Duleep  Singh's  account.  I  heard 
the  incident  from  him  on  the  Sunday  morning.  The  same 
evening,  at  about  12  p.m.,  he  received  a  telegram  notifying 
him  of  his  father's  sudden  illness  and  death.  We  had  no 
knowledge  of  his  father's  illness.  He  has  never  told  me  of 
any  similar  previous  occurrence. 

Carnarvon. 

The  Maharajah  Duleep  Singh  died  on  Sunday, 
October  22,  1893. 

We  have  several  cases  in  which  the  sight  of  a 
material  object  appears  to  have  facilitated  the  hal- 
lucination. Thus  Edmund  Gurney  has  quoted,  in 
Phantasms  of  the  Living,  a  case  where  a  young  girl 
saw  a  familiar  face  growing  out  of  a  pansy.  ^  In 
another  case  the  percipient  saw  the  figure  of  her 
mother  in  a  white  dimity  curtain  at  the  foot  of  the 
bed.  When  the  curtain  was  shaken  the  figure  dis- 
appeared.^ In  Case  41  below,  the  percipient  saw  a 
face  form  on  the  panels  of  a  wardrobe  illuminated 
by  the  moon. 

In  the  next  case  the  vision  seems  to  have  been 
seen  within  an  hour  of  the  death.  Here  again  the 
hallucination  appears  not  to  have  been  completely 
externalised. 

No.  34,     From  Madame  Broussiloff  ^ 

S.  Petersburg,  April  19th,  1895. 
On  the  i6th  (28th)  of  February  of  this  year  (1895)  between 
9  and  10  o'clock  in  the  evening,  I,  the  undersigned,  was  sit- 
ting in  our  drawing-room — the  small  one — facing  the  large 

'  Vol.  ii.,  p.  28.  "^  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  June,  1896. 

^  Ibid.,  July,  1895 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  129 

drawing-room  which  I  could  see  in  its  entire  length.  My 
husband,  his  brother  with  his  wife,  and  my  mother  were  also 
sitting  in  the  same  room  with  me  round  a  large  round  table. 
I  was  writing  down  my  household  accounts  for  the  day,  whilst 
the  others  were  carrying  on  some  gay  conversation.  Having 
accidentally  raised  my  head  and  looked  into  the  large  drawing- 
room,  I  noticed,  with  astonishment,  that  a  large  grey  shadow 
had  passed  from  the  door  of  the  dining-room  to  that  of  the 
ante-chamber  ;  and  it  came  into  my  head  that  the  figure  I  had 
seen  bore  a  striking  resemblance  in  stature  to  Colonel  Av'- 
Meinander,  an  acquaintance  of  ours,  who  had  lived  in  this 
very  lodging  for  a  long  time.  At  the  first  moment  I  wished  to 
say  at  once  that  a  ghost  had  just  flashed  before  me,  but 
stopped,  as  I  was  afraid  of  being  laughed  at  by  my  husband's 
brother  and  his  wife,  and  also  of  being  scolded  by  my  hus- 
band, who,  in  view  of  the  excitement  which  I  showed  when 
such  phenomena  were  taking  place,  tried  to  convince  me  that 
they  were  the  fruit  of  my  fancy.  As  I  knew  that  Meinander 
was  alive  and  well,  and  was  commander  of  the  "  Malorossusky  " 
40th  regiment  of  dragoons,  I  did  not  say  anything  then;  but 
when  I  was  going  to  bed,  I  related  to  my  mother  what  I  had 
seen,  and  the  next  morning  could  not  refrain  from  mentioning 
it  to  my  husband. 

Our  astonishment  was  extreme  when  on  the  i8th  of  Febru- 
ary (2nd  of  March)  we  learned  that  Nicholas  Ottovitch  Av- 
Meinander  had  actually  died  after  a  short  illness  on  the  i6th 
(28th)  of  February  at  9  o'clock  in  the  evening,  in  the  town  of 
Stashovo,*  where  his  regiment  is  stationed. 

Anna  Nicolaievna  Broussiloff. 

Madame  Broussiloff's  mother,  Madame  Hage- 
meister,  and  Colonel  Broussiloff  write  independently 
to  say  that  they  remember  hearing  of  Madame 
Broussiloff's   experience   before   the    news   of   the 

'  Particle  equivalent  to  the  German  "  von"  (the  name  is  a  Swedish  one). 
^Government  of  Radom,  Poland,  1200  versts  from  Petersburg. 


I30  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

death  came.  Colonel  Broussiloff  adds  that  from 
the  obituary  notice  in  the  Novoie  Vremia,  No. 
6816,  it  appears  that  Colonel  Meinander  died  at 
9  P.M.  on  February  i6th  (28th). 

The  narrative  in  this  case  presents  a  rather  un- 
usual feature.  The  percipient  was  in  company  with 
several  other  persons,  but  her  experience  was  un- 
shared. In  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  seer  of 
the  hallucination  was  alone,  a  peculiarity  which  is 
no  doubt  due  to  the  dreamlike  nature  of  the  ex- 
perience :  when  more  than  one  person  is  present  it 
is  frequently  the  case  that  the  hallucination  is  shared 
by  all.  The  problem  involved  in  this  "  collective  " 
percipience  will  be  discussed  later. 

In  the  next  case  the  percipient's  vision  occurred 
about  two  hours  after  the  death  of  the  child.  It 
seems  possible  that  in  this  case  the  telephone  clerk 
acted  as  agent. ^ 

No.  35.  From  Mrs.  Michell  ' 
The  Hollies,  St.  Helens,  Lancaster,  May  8th,  1894. 
On  the  25th  of  last  month  I  was  sitting  in  the  nursery,  and 
my  little  daughter  Gwendoline  was  playing  with  her  dolls,  and 
she  suddenly  laughed  so  as  to  attract  my  attention,  and  I 
asked  her  what  she  was  laughing  at.  She  said,  "  O  mother,  I 
thought  I  saw  little  Jack  in  that  chair  " — a  vacant  chair  in  the 
room — and  indicating  her  little  cousin.  About  five  minutes 
after  this  the  clerk  telephoned  from  the  office  saying  he  had 
just  received  a  telegram  from  Penzance  announcing  the  death 
of  little  Jack.     It  was  about  half-past  nine  in  the  morning 

'See,  in  this  connection,  Cases  39  and  40  in  the  present  chapter,  and 
cases  42  and  others  in  Chapter  X. 
'^Journal,  S.  P.  R..  January,  1895. 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  131 

when  the  incident  occurred  in  the  nursery  at  St.  Helens.  The 
death  in  Penzance  took  place  at  about  half-past  seven  on  the 
same  morning.  E.  Michell. 

In  reply  to  our  further  inquiries,  Mr.  Michell 
wrote  : 

May  28th,  1894. 

Gwendoline  is  five  years  and  four  months  old. 

I  am  not  aware  that  she  has  had  any  previous  experience  of 
the  kind  related  to  Mr.  Macdonald,  but  that  the  one  in  ques- 
tion is  a  fact  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt. 

She  knows  the  clerk  at  our  office,  and  he  has  often  conversed 
with  her,  and  occasionally  played  with  her  in  an  ordinary  way. 

The  impression  she  had  was  just  prior  to  the  clerk's  tele- 
phoning ray  wife,  and  although  the  clerk  did  not  think  about 
my  daughter  missing  Jack  at  all,  yet  Mrs.  Michell  herself  was 
anxiously  wondering  what  the  news  respecting  Jack  would  be. 

There  was  no  one  else  in  the  nursery  besides  my  wife  and 
daughter,  but  Mrs.  Michell  was  very  deeply  impressed  with 
the  matter,  and  then  to  receive  the  message  very  shortly  after 
forced  the  matter  upon  her  mind  still  deeper,  and  she  told  me 
immediately  I  arrived  home,  Jas.  J.  Michell. 

**  Little  Jack,"  it  should  be  added,  died  from 
convulsions  in  teething. 

The  percipient's  impression  in  the  next  case 
passed  through  three  separate  stages.  It  began 
with  a  vivid  sense  of  an  actual  presence ;  it  then 
assumed  the  form  of  a  transparent  hallucination 
apparently  like  that  seen  by  Madame  Broussiloff  ; 
in  its  final  stage  the  experience,  though  of  a  very 
unusual  type,  must  be  classed  as  a  pseudo-hallucina- 
tion, inasmuch  as  it  did  not  actually  enter  the 
percipient's  field  of  physical  vision. 


132  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

No.  36.     From  Mr.  Percy  Kearne 

37  AvoNMORE  Gardens,  West  Kensington, 

24th  December,  1894. 

On  the  evening  of  February  10,  1894,  I  was  sitting  in  my 
room  expecting  the  return  of  two  friends  from  a  concert  in 
the  provinces  where  they  had  been  performing.  The  friends 
in  question  had  lived  with  me  for  some  years,  and  we  were 
more  than  usually  attached  to  one  another.  I  had  no  know- 
ledge by  what  particular  train  they  intended  returning  to  town, 
but  knew  when  the  last  train  they  could  catch  was  due  to  ar- 
rive in  London  (9.5  p.m.)  and  how  long  to  a  few  minutes  they 
would  take  from  the  terminus  to  get  home  (about  lo  p.m.). 
Our  profession  entails  a  great  deal  of  travelling;  my  friends 
have  had  plenty  of  experience  in  this  direction,  and  there  was 
no  question  of  their  being  well  able  to  look  after  themselves. 
I  may  just  add  that  one  of  these  friends  has  made  the  same 
journey  weekly  for  the  last  eight  or  nine  years,  so  that  I  knew 
quite  well  his  usual  time  of  arrival  at  Liverpool  Street. 

On  the  day  mentioned  they  were  performing  at  an  afternoon 
concert,  and  I  had  every  reason  to  believe  they  would  be  tired 
and  get  home  as  soon  as  possible.  I  allowed  half-an-hour  be- 
yond the  usual  time  (10.30  p.m.)  of  arrival  to  elapse  before  I 
got  at  all  uneasy,  speculating  as  people  will  under  such  cir- 
cumstances as  to  what  was  keeping  them,  although  arguing  to 
myself  all  the  time  that  there  was  not  the  slightest  occasion 
for  alarm.  I  then  took  up  a  book  in  which  I  was  much  inter- 
ested, sitting  in  an  easy  chair  before  the  fire  with  a  reading 
lamp  close  to  my  right  side,  and  in  such  a  position  that  only 
by  deliberately  turning  round  could  I  see  the  window  on  my 
left,  before  which  heavy  chenille  curtains  were  drawn.  I 
had  read  some  twenty  minutes  or  so,  was  thoroughly  absorbed 
in  the  book,  my  mind  was  perfectly  quiet,  and  for  the  time 
being  my  friends  were  quite  forgotten,  when  suddenly  without 
a  moment's  warning  my  whole  being  seemed  roused  to  the 
highest  state  of  tension  or  aliveness,  and  I  was  aware,  with  an 

>  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  February,  1895. 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  133 

intenseness  not  easily  imagined  by  those  who  have  never  ex- 
perienced it,  that  another  being  or  presence  was  not  only  in 
the  room  but  close  to  me.  I  put  my  book  down,  and  although 
my  excitement  was  great,  I  felt  quite  collected  and  not  con- 
scious of  any  sense  of  fear.  Without  changing  my  position, 
and  looking  straight  at  the  fire,  I  knew  somehow  that  my 
friend  A.  H,  was  standing  at  my  left  elbow,  but  so  far  behind 
me  as  to  be  hidden  by  the  arm-chair  in  which  I  was  leaning 
back.  Moving  my  eyes  round  slightly  without  otherwise 
changing  my  position,  the  lower  portion  of  one  leg  became 
visible,  and  I  instantly  recognised  the  grey-blue  material  of 
trousers  he  often  wore,  but  the  stuff  appeared  semi-transparent, 
reminding  me  of  tobacco  smoke  in  consistency.  I  could  have 
touched  it  with  my  hand  without  moving  more  than  my  left 
arm.  With  that  curious  instinctive  wish  not  to  see  more  of 
such  a  "  figure,"  I  did  no  more  than  glance  once  or  twice  at 
the  apparition,  and  then  directed  my  gaze  steadily  at  the  fire  in 
front  of  me.  An  appreciable  space  of  time  passed — probably 
several  seconds  in  all,  but  seeming  in  reality  much  longer — 
when  the  most  curious  thing  happened.  Standing  upright  be- 
tween me  and  the  window  on  my  left,  and  at  a  distance  of 
about  four  feet  from  me  and  almost  immediately  behind  my 
chair,  I  saw  perfectly  distinctly  the  figure  of  my  friend — the 
face  very  pale,  the  head  slightly  thrown  back,  the  eyes  shut, 
and  on  one  side  of  the  throat,  just  under  the  jaw,  a  wound 
with  blood  on  it.  The  figure  remained  motionless  with  the 
arms  close  to  the  sides,  and  for  some  time,  how  long  I  can't 
say,  I  looked  steadily  at  it ;  then  all  at  once  roused  myself, 
turned  deliberately  round,  the  figure  vanished,  and  I  realised 
instantly  that  I  had  seen  the  figure  behind  me  without  moving 
from  my  first  position — an  impossible  feat  physically.  I  am 
perfectly  certain  I  never  moved  my  position  from  the  first 
appearance  of  the  figure  as  seen  physically  until  it  disappeared 
on  my  turning. 

Mr.  Kearne  then  made  a  note  of  the  time,  and 
within  an  hour  his  friends  returned. 


134  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

My  friend  B.  then  came  up,  saying,  "  Come  and  see  A,  H., 
what  a  state  he  is  in."  I  found  him  in  the  bathroom  with  his 
collar  and  shirt  torn  open,  the  front  of  the  latter  with  blood 
upon  it,  and  bathing  a  wound  under  his  jaw  which  was  bleed- 
ing. His  face  was  very  pale,  and  he  was  evidently  suffering 
from  a  shock  of  some  kind.  As  soon  as  I  could  I  got  an 
account  of  what  had  happened. 

They  had  arrived  in  London  punctually,  and  feeling  tired, 
although  in  good  spirits,  drove  with  a  third  gentleman,  who 
had  been  performing  with  them,  to  a  restaurant  opposite 
King's  Cross  Station  to  have  some  supper.  Before  leaving 
the  restaurant,  my  friend,  A.  H.  (whose  apparition  I  saw), 
complained  of  feeling  faint  from  the  heat  of  the  place,  went 
out  into  the  street  to  get  some  fresh  air,  and  had  hardly  got 
into  the  open  when  he  felt  his  senses  leave  him,  and  he  fell 
heavily  forward,  striking  his  jaw  on  the  edge  of  the  kerb,  then 
rolling  over  on  his  back.  On  recovering  consciousness,  two 
policemen  were  standing  over  him,  one  of  whom — failing  to 
unfasten  his  collar  to  give  him  air — had  cut  both  that  and  his 
tie.  After  informing  the  rest  of  the  party  of  what  had  hap- 
pened, a  cab  was  called,  and  my  two  friends  were  driven  home 
as  quickly  as  possible.  The  exact  time  that  my  friend  A.  H. 
fainted  was  not  of  course  noted  by  them  ;  but  judging  by  the 
average  time  a  cab  takes  to  do  the  distance,  cut  rather  short 
on  this  occasion  in  the  effort  to  get  A.  H.  home  quickly,  it 
would  correspond  within  three  minutes  to  the  time  when  the 
apparition  appeared  to  me. 

The  two  friends  referred  to,  Mr.  Alfred  Hobday 
and  Mr.  Arthur  Bent,  append  their  signatures  to 
the  narrative,  in  corroboration  of  its  accuracy  so  far 
as  they  are  concerned. 

In  the  following  case  the  phantasm  was  suffi- 
ciently distinct  and  lifelike  for  the  colour  of  the 
dress  to  be  noted.     The  experience,  it  will  be  seen, 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  135 

was  impressive  enough  to  induce  the  percipient  to 
make  a  note  of  the  circumstance  in  her  diary. 
No.  37.     From  Miss  Hervey 

9  Tavistock  Crescent,  W.,'  April  28,  1892. 

I  saw  the  figure  of  my  cousin  (a  nurse  in  Dublin)  coming 
upstairs,  dressed  in  grey.  I  was  in  Tasmania,  and  the  time 
that  I  saw  her  was  between  6  and  7  p.m.  on  April  21st,  i888. 

I  had  just  come  in  from  a  ride  and  was  in  the  best  of 
health  and  spirits.     I  was  between  31  and  32  years  of  age. 

I  had  lived  with  my  cousin,  and  we  were  the  greatest  of 
friends,  but  my  going  to  Tasmania  in  1887  had,  of  course, 
separated  us.  She  was  a  nurse,  and  at  the  time  I  saw  her  in 
April,  1888,  she  was  dying  of  typhus  fever,  a  fact  unknown  to 
me  till  6  weeks  after  her  death.  Her  illness  lasted  only  5 
days,  and  I  heard  of  her  death  at  the  same  time  as  of  her 
illness. 

'Ihere  was  no  one  present  with  me  at  the  time,  but  I  nar- 
rated what  I  had  seen  to  the  friend  with  whom  I  was  living, 
and  asked  why  my  cousin,  Ethel  B.,  should  have  been  dressed 
in  grey.  My  friend  said  that  was  the  dress  of  the  nurses  in 
that  particular  hospital ;  a  fact  unknown  to  me. 

The  impression  of  seeing  my  cousin  was  so  vivid  that  I 
wrote  a  long  letter  to  her  that  night,  saying  I  had  had  this 
vision.  The  letter,  arriving  after  she  was  dead,  was  returned 
to  me  and  I  destroyed  it." 

Rose  B.  E.  I.  Hervey. 

I  called  on  Miss  Hervey  on  July  21,  1892.  She 
explained  that  she  was  staying  at  the  time  of  her 
experience  with  Lady  H.  Miss  Hervey  and  Lady 
H.  had  just  returned  from  a  drive,  and  Miss  Hervey 
was  leaving  her  room  to  cross  the  upper  landing  to 
Lady  H.'s  room  to  have  tea.     On  passing  the  stairs 

'  Proceedings^  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  pp.  282-2S3.  The  account  was  written 
in  answer  to  the  census  questions. 


136  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

she  saw  the  figure  coming  up.  She  recognised  it  at 
once  and  ran  away  to  Lady  H.,  without  waiting  to 
see  the  figure  disappear,  and  told  her  what  she  had 
seen.  Lady  H.  laughed  at  her,  but  told  her  to 
note  it  in  her  diary.  This  Miss  Hervey  did.  I 
saw  the  entry:  "Saturday,  April  21st,  1888,  6 
P.M.  Vision  of  [nickname  given]  on  landing  in 
grey  dress."  The  news  of  death  did  not  arrive  till 
June.  Date  of  death,  April  22,  1888,  at  4.30  p.m. 
Lady  H.  writes  : 

July  30th,  1893. 
Dear  Sir, — Your  letter  dated  April  6th  has  followed  me 
back  to  England,  and  I  should  have  answered  it  a  week  or  two 
sooner,  but  I  thought  my  son  from  Tasmania  might  be  able  to 
throw  some  light  on  your  search  for  a  definite  corroboration  of 
Miss  Hervey's  account  of  an  apparition  which  she  tells  you  she 
saw  when  in  Tasmania  with  us  in  1888.  He,  however,  can  do 
little  more  than  I  can  for  its  confirmation.  He  recollects  that 
Miss  Hervey  made  such  a  statement  at  the  time,  and  I  seem 
to  remember  something  about  it,  but  nothing  really  definite. 

The  dress  of  the  nurses  at  the  hospital  in  ques- 
tion is  a  check  pattern  of  white  and  blue  with  a  lit- 
tle red.  It  has  a  greyish  tone  at  a  distance,  but 
the  colour  coincidence  is  not  sufficiently  striking  to 
carry  much  weight.  The  difference  of  time  be- 
tween Tasmania  and  Dublin  is  about  ten  hours, 
so  that  the  vision  preceded  the  death  by  about 
thirty-two  hours. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  cases  in  our  collection  are 
of  the  same  type  as  the  five  narratives  last  quoted  : 
the  figure  seen  is  more  or  less  realistic ;  it  is  recog- 
nised by  the  person  to  whom  it  appears ;  and  the 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  137 

percipient  is  a  relative  or  Intimate  friend.  We  now 
pass  to  cases  which  In  one  respect  or  another  differ 
from  this  clearly  defined  type. 

The  following  case  presents  a  grotesque  feature 
which  Is  almost  without  parallel  In  our  records. 
In  this  case  also  the  percipient,  It  will  be  observed, 
was  In  the  company  of  others.  The  case  was  for- 
warded to  us  on  May  5,  1892,  by  Mr.  Raper  of 
Trinity  College,  Oxford,  who  writes  that  he  heard 
an  account  of  the  Incident  very  soon  after  its 
occurrence. 

No.  38     From  M.  J.  Dove  ' 

New  College,  Oxford. 

Just  before  last  Christmas  I  went  over  to  Liverpool  with 
one  of  my  brothers  and  my  sister.  It  was  a  very  fine,  clear 
day,  and  there  was  a  great  crowd  of  people  shopping  in  the 
streets.  We  were  walking  down  Lord-street,  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal streets,  when,  passing  me,  I  saw  an  old  uncle  of  mine 
whom  I  knew  very  little,  and  had  not  seen  for  a  very  long 
time,  although  he  lived  near  me.  I  saw  three  distinct  shapes 
hobbling  past  (he  was  lame)  one  after  the  other  in  a  line.  It 
did  n't  seem  to  strike  me  at  the  moment  as  being  in  the  least 
curious,  not  even  there  being  three  shapes  in  a  line.  I  said 
to  my  sister,  "  I  have  just  seen  Uncle  E.,  and  I  am  sure  he  is 
dead."  I  said  this  as  it  were  mechanically,  and  not  feeling  at 
all  impressed.  Of  course  my  brother  and  sister  laughed.  We 
thought  nothing  more  about  it  while  in  Liverpool.  The  first 
thing  my  mother  said  to  us  on  getting  home  was,  "  I  have 
some  news"  ;  and  then  she  told  us  that  this  uncle  had  died 
very  early  that  morning.  I  don't  know  the  particular  hour. 
I  saw  the  three  shapes  at  about  12  in  the  morning.  I  felt 
perfectly  fit  and  well,  and  was  not  thinking  of  my  uncle  in  the 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  January,  1895. 


138  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

least,  nor  did  I  know  he  was  ill.  Both  my  brother  and  my 
sister  heard  me  say  that  I  had  seen  him  and  believed  he  was 
dead,  and  they  were  equally  astonished  at  hearing  of  his 
death  on  our  return  home.  My  uncle  and  I  knew  each  other 
very  little.  In  fact,  he  hardly  knew  me  by  sight,  although  he 
knew  me  well  when  I  was  a  small  child. 

Miss  Dove  wrote  to  her  brother  on  the  1 7th  May, 
1892  : 

I  do  remember  distinctly  your  saying  to  me  in  Liverpool, 
"three  men  have  passed  me  exactly  like  Uncle  E.,  he  must 
be  dead,"  and  that  we  heard  afterwards  he  had  died  that  day, 
but  I  do  not  remember  the  date. 

The  uncle,  it  appears,  was  found  dead  in  his  bed 
on  that  morning,  having  died  in  the  course  of  the 
night. 

The  grotesque  character  of  the  central  incident 
in  this  narrative  illustrates  unmistakably  the  funda- 
mental character  of  hallucinations.  The  mere  fact 
that  the  curious  vision  did  not  strike  the  nar- 
rator at  the  time  as  odd,  and  did  not  make  any 
emotional  impression,  is  in  itself  a  proof  that  he 
was  not  fully  master  of  his  faculties.  A  like  partial 
dissociation  of  consciousness  may  no  doubt  be  pre- 
sumed to  have  existed  in  the  case  of  Prince  Duleep 
Singh's  vision  (No.  33)  and  in  the  case  of  Mr. 
Percy  Kearne  (No.  36).  In  order  to  appreciate 
their  significance  it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind 
that  these  apparitions  are  after  all  of  the  nature  of 
dreams  ;  and  that  the  critical  faculties  of  the  per- 
cipient may  in  some  cases  be  altogether  in  abey- 
ance at  the  moment,  however  wide  awake  he  may 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  139 

be  immediately  before  and  after  the  experience. 
In  the  case  of  post-hypnotic  hallucinations  or  en- 
joined actions  we  are  often  able  experimentally  to 
determine  the  momentary  recurrence  of  a  state  of 
dream  consciousness.^  A  painstaking  critic  of  our 
evidence,  Herr  Edmund  Parish,  affirms  the  absolute 
identity  of  the  two  classes  of  impressions :  "  there 
is  absolutely  no  distinction,  either  theoretical  or 
practical,  to  be  drawn  between  the  sense  deceptions 
of  the  dream  state  and  those  of  waking  conscious- 
ness." But  the  statement  is  made  for  controversial 
purposes,  and  requires  considerable  modification. 
We  need  not  now  concern  ourselves  about  theoretic 
distinctions  between  the  two  classes  of  phenomena. 
But  for  practical  purposes,  especially  for  the  pur- 
pose of  the  present  enquiry,  there  are  two  very  im- 
portant distinctions  between  waking  hallucinations 
and  the  hallucinations  of  sleep  which  we  call 
dreams.  In  the  first  place,  the  waking  vision  is  of 
much  rarer  occurrence,  and  much  more  impressive, 
as  the  common  experience  of  mankind,  apart  from 
the  census,  is  sufficient  to  show.  In  the  second 
place,  the  waking  experience  is  likely  to  be  more 
accurately  remembered,  not  only,  or  even  mainly, 
because  of  its  rarity  and  impressiveness,  but  be- 
cause it  has  a  fixed  place  in  time  and  generally  in 
space  also.  Whatever  the  actual  state  of  the  per- 
cipient's consciousness  at  the  moment,  the  vision 

'  In  some  of  these  experimental  cases  the  subject  is  found  completely  to 
forget  his  own  vision  or  action  immediately  afterwards.  It  would  seem 
therefore  that  the  state  of  dissociation  in  the  case  of  spontaneous  hallucina- 
tions is  not  as  a  rule  very  far-reaching. 


I40  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

at  any  rate  forms  a  link   in   the  chain  of  waking 
experiences.^ 

In  some  cases  the  impression  made  upon  the 
percipient,  though  fairly  distinct,  is  not  referred  to 
any  particular  person,  until  its  coincidence  with  a 
death  gives  it  retrospective  significance.  Thus  a 
doctor  tells  us  that  about  7.30  on  a  December 
morning  "when  just  on  the  point  of  rising,  I  be- 
came conscious  that  a  dark  form,  distinctly  that  of 
a  female  of  medium  height,  was  passing  round  the 
foot  of  the  bed,  and  glided  up  to  my  side.  When 
it  reached  me  I  raised  myself  in  bed  and  felt  with 
my  hand,  but  it  passed  through  the  shadow." 
Later  it  appeared  that  the  vision  occurred  within 
half  an  hour  of  the  death  of  a  patient ;  and  the  per- 
cipient only  then  realised  the  likeness  of  the  phan- 
tasmal figure  to  that  of  the  deceased  person.  Of 
course  a  case  of  this  kind  has  little  evidential  im- 
portance, even  though  the  hallucination  was  unique 
in  the  percipient's  experience.  But  we  have  other 
cases  of  this  type.^ 

'  See  Parish,  Hallucinations  and  Illusions,  pp.  291,  et  seqq.  Parish  is  a 
critic  who  has  every  intention  of  being  impartial.  In  discussing  telepathy 
he  has  summed  up  the  Lehmann-Sidgwick  controversy  in  favour  of 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  or  rather  against  the  Danish  experi- 
menters {pp.  cit.,  p.  320).  But  in  the  vi'hole  passage  referred  to  he  seems  to 
have  been  misled  by  2.  parti  pris.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  we  have  some 
definite  evidence,  in  the  census  tables,  of  the  comparative  rarity  of  waking 
hallucinations,  and  of  the  rate  at  which  they  tend  to  be  forgotten,  Parish 
himself  recognises  and  insists  upon  the  fact  that  the  dissociation  of  con- 
sciousness, which  is  the  chief  cause  of  forgetfulness,  is,  in  the  case  of  what 
are  commonly  called  waking  hallucinations,  less  profound  than  in  ordinary 
sleep.  For  a  fuller  criticism  of  the  argument  against  telepathy  in  Parish's 
book,  see  Miss  Johnson's  review  {Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xi.,  p.  163). 

^  Proceedings,    vol.    x.,    p.    265.      See   especially   the    narrative   of   the 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  141 

Hitherto  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  "agent" 
in  these  spontaneous  cases  is  the  dying  man,  or, 
generally  speaking,  the  principal  actor  in  the  crisis 
which  gives  rise  to  the  percipient's  experience. 
But  though  this  assumption  is  perhaps  usually  cor- 
rect, it  is  by  no  means  a  necessary  corollary  of  the 
hypothesis  of  thought  transference.  And  in  many 
cases  we  have  clear  indications  that  the  telepathic 
impulse  may  have  originated  in  the  minds  of  some 
of  those  cognisant  of  the  death  at  the  time. 

In  the  following  narrative,  for  instance,  the  vis- 
ion represented  the  widow  of  the  deceased,  and 
appears  to  have  coincided  not  with  the  death, 
which  had  taken  place  about  one  and  one  half  hours 
previously,  but  with  the  subsequent  conversation 
in  which  the  thoughts  of  the  survivors  turned  to- 
wards the  percipient.  The  account  is  written  in 
the  form  of  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  by  a  lady 
well  known  to  her,  who  prefers  to  remain  anony- 
mous. The  percipient  was  in  London  at  the  time 
of  the  vision.  J.  W.  was  an  old  man  who  had  been 
a  ploughman,  and  afterwards  kept  the  general  shop 
and  post-office  in  the  remote  country  village  where 
his  death  took  place. 

No.  39.    From  Miss  R.' 

March  7th,  1905, 

On  the  night  of  Saturday,  March  4th,  or  rather,  early  morn- 
ing of  March  5th  [1905],  I  awoke  and  sat  up  to  reach  for 

Countess  Eugenie  Kapnist,  given  in  my  Apparitions  and  Thought  Trans- 
ference, p.  252. 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  November,  1906. 

I  OF     -., 


142  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

something  on  the  table  beside  my  bed.  The  room  was  not 
dark,  as  the  curtains  were  drawn  back,  and  the  blinds  were 
up,  and  there  are  some  strong  lights  in  the  street  outside.  As 
I  sat  up  all  seemed  dark  except  that  I  saw  a  face  for  a  second, 
and  the  satne  face  a  little  farther  to  the  right  and  a  little  lower 
down,  also  for  a  second.  I  am  not  sure  whether  I  saw  the 
two  faces  (which  were  exactly  the  same)  at  the  same  moment 
or  one  just  after  the  other,  but  I  think  the  sight  of  them 
overlapped.  The  faces  were  of  Mrs.  J.  W.,  who  lives  at  the 
village  at  home.  I  only  saw  her  head,  all  else  being  swal- 
lowed in  darkness,  I  noticed  her  black  cap,  without  any 
white,  which  she  always  wears.  Her  face  was  not  strongly 
illuminated,  and  wore  her  usual  expression.  There  was  no 
appearance  of  life  or  action  about  it. 

I  was  sufficiently  struck  by  this  to  say  to  myself  that  I 
would  write  to  you  next  morning  about  it,  so  that  if  there  was 
any  coincidence  about  it  you  would  have  evidence  before- 
hand. I  also  turned  over  to  the  other  side  of  my  bed,  took 
up  the  watch  standing  there  and  noticed  the  time  by  it  was 
4.19  A.M.  As  this  watch  was  5  minutes  fast  by  "Big  Ben," 
the  real  time  must  have  been  just  4.14  a.m.  Unluckily  when 
I  woke  next  morning  the  whole  thing  went  clean  out  of  my 
recollection,  and  I  never  thought  of  it  again  till  this  morning 
(March  7th),  when  I  received  a  letter  from  Mrs.  N.  [wife  of 
the  clergyman  at  Miss  R.'s  country  home],  dated  March  6th, 
who  among  other  things  wrote  as  follows  : 

"Poor  old  J.  W.  at  the  village  died  yesterday  morning 
early.     He  has  been  ill  for  a  long  time." 

Miss  R.  adds  that  in  the  absence  of  a  written 
memorandum  she  could  not  determine  with  cer- 
tainty whether  the  date  of  her  vision  was  on  the 
morning  of  the  5th  or  6th  ;  but  from  independent 
evidence  she  is  "  pretty  confident "  that  it  was  the 
5th.  It  appears  from  Mrs.  N.'s  further  letters  that 
J.  W.  died  at  about  2.50  a.m.  on  the  5th,  and  that 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  143 

between  4  and  5  a.m.  on  that  date  Mrs.  J.  W.  and 
her  daughter-in-law  were  talking  much  of  Miss  R. 
and  of  her  great  kindness  to  them  :  Mrs.  J.  W. 
adding  that  she  would  like  to  offer  Miss  R.  her 
corner  cupboard. 

In  this  case  the  "agency"  of  Mrs.  J.  W.  would 
seem  to  be  indicated  by  all  the  circumstances  of 
the  case.  We  have  other  instances  in  which  a  sim- 
ilar explanation  is  suggested.  Thus  Mrs.  McAlpine 
saw  a  vision  of  her  baby-nephew,  six  months  old,  at 
the  time  of  his  death.  In  this  case  it  seems  more 
natural  to  assume  that  the  agent  was  some  person 
tending  the  child,  rather  than  the  child  itself.^  In 
another  case  a  woman  dreamt  of  the  death  of  a 
child  and  the  arrangements  for  the  funeral ;  the 
dream  occurring  more  than  twenty-four  hours  after 
the  death.^ 

The  following  case  of  the  apparition  of  a  dog  at 
about  the  time  of  death  may,  it  is  suggested,  be 
similarly  explained. 

No.  40.    From  Mrs.  Bagot  ^ 

The  Palace,  Hampton  Court,  February,  1896. 
I  was  at  Mentone  in  the  spring  of  1883,  having  left  at  home 
with  the  gardener  a  very  favourite  black  and  tan  terrier, 
"Judy."  I  was  sitting  at  table  d'hote  with  my  daughter  and 
husband  and  suddenly  saw  Judy  run  across  the  room,  and  ex- 
claimed, "  Why,  there  's  Judy  !  "  There  was  no  dog  in  the 
room  or   hotel,   but  I  distinctly  saw  her,  and  when  I  went 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  p.  2S1.    See  also  the  curious  case  related 
by  Miss  Hawkins-Dempster,  Ibid.,  p.  261. 
*  See  below,  Case  42,  Chapter  X. 
3  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  April,  1896. 


144  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

upstairs   after   table   d'hote,    told   my   other  daughter,    Mrs. 
Wodehouse,  what  I  had  seen. 

The  next  letter  from  home  told  me  that  Judy  had  gone  out 
in  the  morning  well,  had  apparently  picked  up  some  poison,  as 
she  was  taken  ill  and  died  in  half  an  hour  ;  but  I  cannot  say 
whether  it  was  on  the  same  day  that  I  had  seen  her. 

She  was  almost  a  human  dog,  so  wonderfully  intelligent  and 
understanding,  and  devoted  to  me. 

J.  W.  Bagot. 

Mrs.  Bagot's  daughter,  Mrs.  Wodehouse,  sent  to 
us  a  copy  of  the  entries  in  her  diary  under  the  dates 
March  24  and  28,  1883. 

56  Chester  Square,  S.W. 

{Copy  0/ Diary.)  March  24th,  1883.  Easter  Eve  (Mentone). 
— "  Drove  with  A.  and  picked  anemones.  Lovely  bright  day. 
But  my  head  ached  too  much  to  enjoy  it.  Went  to  bed  after 
tea  and  read  Hettner's  Renaissance.  Mamma  saw  Judy's 
ghost  at  table  d*  hote  !  " 

March  28th,  Wednesday  (Monte  Carlo). — "  Mamma  and  A. 
came  over  for  the  day.     Judy  dead,  poor  old  dear." 

It  will  be  seen  that  no  exact  correspondence  is 
made  out  between  the  vision  and  the  death;  but  it 
is  clear  that  the  apparition  was  seen  before  the 
news  of  the  death  was  received.  In  this  case  it  is 
not  difficult  to  suppose  that  the  agent  may  have 
been  the  person  in  whose  charge  the  dog  had  been 
left.  But  to  return  for  a  moment  to  Case  39.  It 
will  be  seen  that  Miss  R.  not  only  made  no  note  of 
her  experience  but  actually  forgot  all  about  it  until 
she  received  the  news  of  the  death  of  J.  W.  As 
the  vision  had  not  been  mentioned  to  any  one  we 
have  no  proof,  beyond  the  percipient's  word,  for  the 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  145 

actual  occurrence  of  the  experience.  That  guaran- 
tee is  no  doubt  in  nearly  all  cases  sufficient,  so  far 
as  the  narrator's  good  faith  is  concerned.  In  this 
particular  case  the  details  are  related  with  such  ob- 
vious care  that  there  can,  it  is  thought,  be  little 
doubt  of  their  substantial  accuracy.  But  Professor 
Royce  of  Harvard  has  suggested  that  in  cases  of 
this  kind,  when  the  impression  is  not  noted  down 
or  mentioned  beforehand,  there  may  occur,  on  the 
receipt  of  the  news  of  death  or  disaster,  an  instan- 
taneous and  irresistible  hallucination  of  memory, 
which  may  give  rise  to  a  belief  in  a  previous  dream 
or  other  warning  presaging  the  facts.  For  this  as- 
sumed hallucination  of  memory  he  suggests  the 
name  "pseudo-presentiment."  Professor  Royce 
can  bring  forward  little  support  for  his  hypothesis 
of  an  instantaneous  hallucination ;  but  an  illusion  of 
memory,  magnifying  and  rearranging  the  details  of 
a  recent  dream,  seems  in  some  cases  not  improb- 
able. In  any  case,  however,  we  should  not  place 
much  reliance  upon  an  experience  not  communi- 
cated to  others  or  even  remembered  until  after  the 
event  which  gave  it  significance.^ 

As  already  indicated,  we  have  many  cases  in 
which  two  or  three  persons  in  company  have  a  sim- 
ilar and  simultaneous  hallucinatory  experience.  For 
the  sake  of  simplicity  I  have  deferred  giving  in- 
stances of  collective  percipience  of  this  kind  until  a 
later  chapter.  The  case  where  percipients  not  in 
the  same  room  have  simultaneous    impressions  is 

'  See  Professor  Royce's  letter  in  Mind  {ox  April,  1888. 


146  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

much  rarer.  The  following  instance  of  this  type 
may  be  quoted.  The  case,  it  will  be  seen,  ex- 
ceeds the  limit  of  ten  years  for  the  interval  between 
event  and  record  which  we  had  set  before  ourselves 
as  a  standard,  but  the  narrative  bears  on  the  face  of 
it  the  impress  of  accuracy. 
No.  41,     From  the  Rev.  Charles  L.  Tweedale,  F.  R.  A.  S.' 

Weston  Vicarage,  nr.  Otley,  Yorkshire, 

July  24th,  1906. 

On  the  night  of  January  loth,  1879,  I  had  retired  early  to 
rest.  I  awoke  out  of  my  first  sleep  to  find  the  moon  shining 
into  my  room.  As  I  awoke  my  eyes  were  directed  towards 
the  panels  of  a  cupboard,  or  wardrobe,  built  into  the  east  wall 
of  my  room,  and  situated  in  the  north-east  corner.  I  watched 
the  moonlight  on  the  panels.  As  I  gazed  I  suddenly  saw  a 
face  form  on  the  panels  of  the  cupboard  or  wardrobe.  Indis- 
tinct at  first,  it  gradually  became  clearer  until  it  was  perfectly 
distinct  as  in  life,  when  I  saw  the  face  of  my  grandmother. 
What  particularly  struck  me  at  the  moment  and  burnt  itself 
into  my  recollection  was  the  fact  that  the  face  wore  an  old- 
fashioned  frilled  or  goffered  cap.  I  gazed  at  it  for  a  few 
seconds,  during  which  it  was  as  plain  as  the  living  face,  when 
it  faded  gradually  into  the  moonlight  and  was  gone.  I  was 
not  alarmed,  but,  thinking  that  I  had  been  deceived  by  the 
moonlight  and  that  it  was  an  illusion,  I  turned  over  and  went 
off  to  sleep  again.  In  the  morning  when  at  breakfast  I 
began  telling  the  experience  of  the  night  to  my  parents.  I 
had  got  well  into  my  story,  when,  to  my  surprise,  my  father 
suddenly  sprang  up  from  his  seat  at  the  table  and  leaving  his 
food  almost  untouched  hurriedly  left  the  room.  As  he  walked 
towards  the  door  I  gazed  after  him  in  amazement,  saying  to 
mother,  "  Whatever  is  the  matter  with  father  ?  "  She  raised 
her  hand  to  enjoin  silence.  When  the  door  had  closed  I 
again  repeated  my  question.     She  replied,  "  Well,  Charles,  it 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  November,  1906. 


Telepathic  Hallucinations  147 

is  the  strangest  thing  I  ever  heard  of,  but  when  I  awoke  this 
morning  your  father  informed  me  that  he  was  awakened  in  the 
night  and  saw  his  mother  standing  by  his  bedside,  and  that 
when  he  raised  himself  to  speak  to  her  she  glided  away." 
This  scene  and  conversation  took  place  at  about  8.30  a.m.  on 
the  morning  of  January  nth.  Before  noon  we  received  a 
telegram  announcing  the  death  of  my  father's  mother  during 
the  night. 

We  found  that  the  matter  did  not  end  here,  for  my  father 
was  afterwards  informed  by  his  sister  that  she  also  had  seen 
the  apparition  of  her  mother  standing  at  the  foot  of  her  bed. 

Thus,  this  remarkable  apparition  was  manifested  to  three 
persons  independently.  My  apartment,  in  which  I  saw  the  vis- 
ion, was  at  the  other  side  of  the  house  to  that  occupied  by 
my  parents,  and  was  entirely  separate  and  apart  from  their 
room,  while  my  father's  sister  was  nearly  20  miles  away  at 
Heckmondwike. 

Mr.  Tweedale's  experience  and  that  of  his  father 
occurred  at  about  2  a.m.  ;  the  death  took  place  at 
12.15  -^•^-  The  appearance  to  Mr.  Tweedale's 
aunt,  Mrs,  Hodgson,  took  place  eighteen  hours 
after  the  death,  news  of  which  had  been  intention- 
ally kept  from  the  percipient  on  account  of  her  seri- 
ous illness.  Mr.  Hodgson  has  given  us  an  account 
of  this  vision. 

Mrs.  Tweedale  writes : 

Victor  Place,  Crawshawbooth,  nr.  Rawtenstall,  Lancashire, 

June  22d,  1906. 

I  have  carefully  read  my  son's  account  of  the  strange  ap- 
pearance to  him  and  my  late  husband,  Dr.  Tweedale.  I  per- 
fectly well  remember  the  matter,  my  son  telling  us  of  what  he 
had  seen  and  my  husband  telling  me  of  the  apparition  to  him, 
also  the  telegram  informing  us  of  the  death  during  the  night. 


148  Telepathic  Hallucinations 

I  distinctly  remember  my  husband  also  being  informed  by 
his  sister  of  the  appearance  to  her. 

(Signed)         Mary  Tweedale. 

It  should  be  added  that  Mr.  Tweedale  sees  in 
the  fact  that  the  vision  appeared  to  three  persons 
independently  after  the  death  had  occurred,  a  proof 
that  the  personality  survives  death. 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  facts  are  suscep- 
tible of  other  explanations.  The  apparitions  may, 
as  already  suggested,  have  been  due  to  a  telepathic 
impulse  from  the  mind  of  the  survivors.  Or,  in  the 
case  of  Mr.  Tweedale  and  his  father,  we  may  sup- 
pose that  the  impulse  actually  originated  with  the 
dying  woman,  but  that  it  remained  latent  in  the 
subconsciousness  of  the  percipients  for  some  two 
hours  before  a  favourable  opportunity  occurred  for 
its  emergence  into  the  upper  consciousness.  We 
have  evidence  in  the  case  of  dreams,  crystal  visions, 
and  in  various  hypnotic  cases,  that  an  impression 
may  thus  lie  latent  for  some  hours  before  it  attains 
full  realisation. 


CHAPTER  VII 

POLTERGEISTS 

VISITATIONS  of  raps  and  loud  noises,  accom- 
panied by  the  throwing  of  stones,  the  ringing 
of  bells,  and  other  disturbances  of  an  inexplicable 
kind,  are  from  time  to  time  reported  by  the  daily 
papers  as  occurring  in  country  villages,  and,  more 
rarely,  in  busy  thoroughfares  in  our  large  towns. 
The  squire,  the  parson,  and  the  police  constable 
are  called  in  to  investigate,  and  depart  as  a  rule  no 
wiser  than  when  they  came.  Mysterious  disturb- 
ances of  the  kind  have  been  reported  for  many 
centuries.  Mr.  Lang  has  cited  a  case  occurring  as 
early  as  856  a.d.^  The  phenomena,  according  to 
the  same  authority,  have  as  wide  a  range  in  space 
as  in  time :  they  extend,  literally,  from  China 
to  Peru  ;  they  are  found  amongst  Eskimos,  Red 
Indians,  and  Malayans,  as  well  as  throughout 
Europe,  and  conform  in  most  cases  to  the  same 
general  type.  Amongst  the  most  interesting  cases 
recorded  in  our  own  literature  may  be  mentioned 
the  Drummer  of  Tedworth  (1661)  of  which  an 
account  is  given  by  Glanvil  in  Saddiuis77ius  Tri- 
umphatus;  the  disturbances  at  Epworth  Parsonage, 

'  Cock  Lane  and  Cotmnon  Sense,  p.  170, 
149 


1 50  Poltergeists 

the  birthplace  of  John  Wesley  (i  716-7)  ;  the  Cock 
Lane  Ghost  (1762). 

In  a  small  and  now  rare  book,  called  Beatings 
Bells,  published  in  1841  by  Major  Moor,  F.  R.  S., 
for  sale  at  a  church  bazaar,  accounts  are  given, 
mostly  at  first  hand,  of  some  twenty  cases  of  the 
kind.  The  disturbances  described  in  Bealings  Bells 
consisted  generally  of  bell  ringing,  but  they  in- 
cluded also  noises  of  other  kinds,  movements  of 
furniture,  throwing  of  crockery  and  small  objects. 
One  of  the  most  characteristic  disturbances  which 
is  reported  in  the  Tedworth  and  Epworth  cases, 
and  formed  the  chief  manifestation  in  the  case  of 
the  Cock  Lane  Ghost,  is  the  occurrence  of  raps  on 
the  woodwork  of  the  bedstead,  or,  as  in  the  Ted- 
worth  case,  scratches  as  if  made  by  nails  on  a 
bolster.  In  all  cases  the  bedstead  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  which  the  noises  occurred  was  occupied 
by  a  child,  or  children,  to  whom  other  circumstances 
point  as  the  centre  of  the  disturbance. 

These  "  Poltergeist "  disturbances,  as  they  have 
been  named,  are  of  some  historical  importance,  as 
it  is  to  an  outbreak  of  this  kind  in  America  that 
the  beginning  of  the  movement  of  modern  Spirit- 
ualism may  be  traced.  A  farmer  named  John  Fox 
occupied  a  frame  house  in  Hydesville,  a  small  ham- 
let in  New  York  State.  One  night  in  March,  1848, 
raps  were  heard  as  if  proceeding  from  the  bedstead 
in  which  his  two  young  daughters,  Margaretta  and 
Katie,  were  sleeping.  The  disturbance  was  re- 
peated night  after  night  and  the  neighbours  crowded 


Poltergeists  151 

in  to  listen.  It  was  soon  found  that  the  raps,  of 
which  no  one  could  discover  the  cause,  would  an- 
swer questions  addressed  to  them,  and  it  was  grad- 
ually elicited  by  these  means  that  the  demonstration 
was  produced  by  the  spirit  of  a  murdered  pedlar. 
The  marvel  spread  throughout  the  neighbouring 
townships.  Other  "mediums"  were  soon  discov- 
ered, through  whose  agency  the  spirits  were  en- 
abled to  manifest  their  presence  by  raps.  Gradually 
the  spirits  learnt  to  move  tables  and  chairs,  to  play 
musical  instruments,  and  do  other  things,  such  as 
the  Poltergeist  had  been  wont  to  do  In  the  past. 
In  a  few  years  Spiritualism,  thus  Incubated  In 
the  little  country  village  of  Hydesville,  spread 
Its  wings  and  encompassed  half  the  globe.  Its 
growth  In  these  early  years  was  much  encouraged 
by  other  outbreaks  of  the  usual  Poltergeist  type, 
especially  those  In  Stratford,  Connecticut,  In  1850, 
and  in  Ashtabula,  Ohio,  In  1851,  full  accounts  of 
which  are  given  In  the  Spiritualistic  journals  of  the 
time. 

To  attain,  therefore,  a  clear  understanding  of 
the  physical  phenomena  presented  to  us  by  Spirit- 
ualist mediums,  some  of  which  are  dealt  with  in  the 
next  chapter,  It  Is  essential  to  study  the  Poltergeist 
manifestations  which  are  their  lineal  progenitors. 
The  Poltergeist  Is,  so  to  speak,  \hQ.fera  nattircs  of 
Spiritualism. 

Recently  Mr.  Andrew  Lang  has  obtained,  through 
the  kindness  of  the  Marquis  d'  Eguilles,  copies  of 
the  official  records  of  a  trial  In  which  a  Polterofeist 


152  Poltergeists 

case  formed  the  subject  of  enquiry.  The  case  is  a 
fairly  typical  one,  and  will  serve  to  illustrate  the 
nature  of  the  phenomena  usually  exhibited.  In 
January,  1851,  Thorel,  a  shepherd,  summoned  M. 
Tinel,  Cure  of  Cideville,  for  libel.  The  Cure  had, 
according  to  the  plaintiff,  accused  him  of  sorcery, 
and  had  procured  his  dismissal  from  his  employ- 
ment. The  defendant  pleaded  that  he  had  only 
charged  Thorel  with  "  arrogating  to  himself  the 
quality  of  sorcerer."  It  was  shown  by  the  evidence 
of  many  witnesses  that  for  some  weeks  disturbances 
of  an  inexplicable  character  had  plagued  the  Cure's 
house.  M.  Tinel  kept  two  pupils,  who  gave  evi- 
dence as  follows  :  Gustave  Lemonnier,  the  younger 
of  the  pupils,  aged  twelve,  said  that  raps  began  when 
he  was  alone,  on  November  26th,  and  continued. 
He  saw  knives,  blacking-brushes,  a  roasting  spit, 
and  M.  Tinel's  breviary  leave  their  places  and  go 
through  the  window-panes.  All  sorts  of  objects 
flew  about.  He  was  struck  in  the  face  by  a  shoe, 
a  candlestick,  and  by  a  black  hand  which  after- 
wards disappeared  up  the  chimney.  A  sort  of 
human  shape,  dressed  in  a  blouse,  which  appeared 
to  be  a  spectre,  followed  him  about  for  a  whole 
fortnight.  We  learn  from  another  witness  that  the 
child  said  that  this  spectre  was  only  fifteen  inches 
high.  Once  an  invisible  force  pulled  him  by  the 
leg,  his  comrade  sprinkled  some  holy  water,  and  the 
force  let  go;  then  a  child's  voice  was  heard  crying, 
•*  Pardon,  mercy."  Notwithstanding  all  these  dis- 
quieting events  he  did   not  ask  to  be  allowed  to 


Poltergeists  1 53 

go  home.  Meeting  Thorel,  when  with  Tinel,  he 
recognised  in  Thorel  the  spectre  in  the  blouse. 

Bunel,  aged  fourteen,  the  other  pupil,  corrobor- 
ated Lemonnier,  who,  he  said,  had  "  lost  conscious- 
ness" and  "had  a  nervous  attack"  after  meeting 
Thorel.  The  witness  showed  a  black  eye,  caused 
by  a  stamping  iron  which  flew  in  his  face.  He 
attested  many  eccentric  movements  of  objects. 

It  was  given  in  evidence  further  that  Thorel  had 
boasted  of  his  power  as  a  sorcerer,  that  he  had  used 
threats  against  M.  Tinel,  and  that  on  being  charged 
by  the  Cure  with  being  the  cause  of  the  disturb- 
ance, Thorel  had  knelt  to  beg  forgiveness  of  the 
younger  boy,  and  had  been  struck  with  a  stick  by 
M.  Tinel. 

Most  of  the  witnesses  called  in  the  case  had  only 
hearsay  evidence  to  give  ;  or  could  speak  only  of 
the  occurrence  of  raps  and  thumps  in  the  presence 
of  the  two  boys,  which  they  were  satisfied  the  boys 
could  not  have  produced.  Two  gendarmes  had 
counted  twenty-three  broken  panes  of  glass  ;  but 
after  spending  an  hour  or  two  at  the  Presbytery 
had  not  seen  or  heard  anything  out  of  the  way. 
But  Cheval,  the  Mayor  of  the  Commune,  testified  to 
having  seen  the  tongs  and  shovel  at  the  Presbytery 
"leave  the  hearth  and  go  into  the  middle  of  the 
room."  They  were  put  back,  and  rushed  out  again. 
"  My  eyes  were  fixed  on  them  to  see  what  moved 
them,  but  I  saw  nothing  at  all."  He  also  saw  a 
"  stocking  dart  like  a  thunderbolt  from  beside  the 
bed  on  which  the   children  were  sleeping,  to   the 


1 54  Poltergeists 

opposite  end  of  the  room."  Lying  in  bed  with  the 
boys,  his  hands  on  their  hands,  and  his  feet  on 
their  feet,  he  "saw  the  coverlet  dart  away  from 
the  bed."  M.  Leroux,  the  Cure  of  Saussay,  aged 
thirty,  deposed : 

I  have  to  add  that  when  at  the  Presbytery  of  Cideville,  I 
saw  things  which  I  have  been  unable  to  explain  to  myself.  I 
saw  a  hammer,  moved  by  some  invisible  force,  leave  the  spot 
where  it  lay  and  fall  in  the  middle  of  the  room  without  mak- 
ing more  noise  than  if  a  hand  had  gently  laid  it  down;  a  piece 
of  bread  lying  on  the  table  darted  under  the  table  ;  and  we 
being  placed  as  we  were,  it  was  impossible  that  any  of  us 
could  have  thrown  it  in  that  way.  I  also  saw,  after  the  Cur6 
of  Cideville  and  I  had  shaved,  all  the  things  we  had  used  for 
the  purpose  placed  as  if  by  hand  on  the  floor  ;  the  young  pen- 
sionnaire  of  M,  Tinel  having  called  .our  attention  to  this,  M. 
Tinel  and  I  went  upstairs  to  assure  ourselves  of  the  fact. 
Perhaps  the  child  had  had  time  to  do  this  ;  but  on  coming 
away  again,  we  had  scarcely  descended  six  steps  of  the  stairs 
when  the  child  told  us  that  everything  had  been  put  back  in 
its  place.  I  went  back  alone  and  found  everything  was,  in 
fact,  in  its  place,  with  the  exception  of  the  mirror,  and  I  am 
certain  that  the  child  could  not  have  put  everything  back  in 
its  place  in  that  way  in  so  short  a  time.  It  seems  to  me  inex- 
plicable. Since  that  I  have  heard  noises  at  the  Presbytery  at 
Cideville.  I  took  every  precaution  in  listening  to  them,  even 
placing  myself  under  the  table  to  make  sure  that  the  children 
could  do  nothing,  and  yet  I  heard  noises,  which  seemed  to  me, 
however,  to  come  more  especially  from  the  wainscot. 

The  Marquis  de  Mirville,  a  well-known  Spiritual- 
ist, who  published  an  account  of  the  case  in  a  con- 
temporary pamphlet,  also  gave  his  evidence.  He 
testified  that  the  raps  showed  intelligence  and  gave 
correct  answers  to  several  questions  which  he  asked 


Poltergeists  155 

on  personal  matters — his  exact  age,  the  number  of 
letters  in  the  names  of  his  children  and  in  the  name 
of  his  house  and  commune.  Further,  the  raps  ex- 
ecuted correctly  Rossini's  Stabat  Mater  and  several 
popular  tunes.  The  only  physical  phenomenon 
which  M.  de  Mirville  witnessed  he  described  as 
follows  : 

One  of  the  children  said  to  me,  "  Look,  Sir,  look  at  this 
desk  knocking  against  the  other"  ;  but  as  the  child  was  in 
front  of  the  desk  I  did  not  attach  much  importance  to  this 
fact, — not  that  I  believed  him  to  be  the  cause  of  it. 

Madame  de  Saint  Victor,  aged  fifty-six,  said  that 
she  had  heard  the  Angelus  and  one  or  two  popular 
tunes  rapped  correctly.     Further, 

after  Vespers,  when  I  was  at  the  Presbytery  of  Cideville 
standing  quite  apart  from  the  other  people  there,  I  felt  an  in- 
visible force  seize  me  by  the  mantle  and  give  me  a  vigorous 
shake.  The  same  day  also  I  saw  three  persons  sitting  on  a 
small  table  in  the  Presbytery  and  it  moved  along  the  floor  in 
spite  of  the  efforts  of  two  people  to  hold  it  back.  Several 
people  were  there,  amongst  others  nvj  femme  de  chanibre,  but 
I  cannot  precisely  say  who  the  others  were.  Another  day  I 
saw  the  child  sitting  on  a  chair  with  his  feet  off  the  ground 
and  his  back  not  leaning  on  the  chairback,  yet  the  chair 
rocked  with  a  movement  which  the  child  could  not  have  given 
it,  ending  with  the  chair  falling  in  one  direction  and  the  boy 
in  another.  The  child  was  much  frightened  at  this.  A  week 
ago  when  I  was  alone  with  the  children  I  saw  the  two  desks 
at  which  they  were  working  fall  over  and  the  table  on  the  top 
of  them.  The  same  day  I  took  the  children  some  St.  Benoist 
medals  in  which  I  had  faith,  and  every  time  the  medals  were 
placed  on  the  desks  not  the  least  sound  was  produced  there, 
the  noise  then  being  heard  behind  me  in  the  wall  cupboard  ; 
but  as  soon  as  the  medals  were  withdrawn  from  the  desks  the 


156  Poltergeists 

noise  was  heard  again  in  the  desks.  The  same  day  the  noise 
rapped  out  the  tune  of  Maitre  Corbeau,  and  on  my  remarking, 
"  Do  you  know  nothing  but  that,  then  ?"  it  sang  the  air  of  Au 
clair  de  la  lune,  and  that  of  /'ai  du  bon  Tabac.  Yesterday, 
again,  I  saw  a  candlestick  leave  the  chimneypiece  in  the 
kitchen  and  go  and  hit  the  back  of  ray  fenmie  de  chambre,  and 
a  key  lying  on  the  table  struck  the  child's  ear.  I  must  say  that 
I  cannot  tell  precisely  where  the  key  was,  as  I  did  not  see  it 
start  on  its  flight,  but  only  saw  it  arrive.  I  was  not  fright- 
ened, only  surprised.  My  son  was  with  me  when  I  heard  the 
Angelus  as  well  as  the  two  children  and  the  Cure,  but  during 
the  other  airs  I  was  alone  with  the  children.  It  was  not  pos- 
sible for  the  children  to  do  these  things  ;  I  watched  their  feet 
and  their  hands,  and  could  see  all  their  movements.  I  think 
the  shepherd  Thorel  could  not  have  done  them  unless  he  had 
made  a  compact  with  the  devil ;  for  it  seemed  to  me  there  was 
something  diabolical  in  it  all. 

M.  Robert  de  St.  Victor,  son  of  the  last  witness, 
testified  that  he  had  heard  the  tunes  rapped  out. 
He  adds  : 

A  week  ago  I  went  again  fo  the  Presbytery,  and  was  alone 
with  the  children  and  the  old  servant  maid  ;  I  placed  one  of 
the  children  in  each  of  the  windows  of  the  room  upstairs,  I 
being  outside,  but  in  a  position  to  observe  all  their  movements 
in  the  position  they  were  placed  in  ;  besides,  they  could  not 
have  moved  much  without  risk  of  falling;  and  I  then  heard 
raps  struck  in  the  room,  similar  to  those  of  a  mallet.  I  went 
up  to  the  room,  and  I  saw  one  of  the  children's  desks  coming 
towards  me,  with  no  visible  force  to  push  it ;  however,  I  did 
not  see  it  at  the  moment  of  its  starting.  I  am  convinced  that 
the  children  had  nothing  to  do  with  this,  since  they  were  still 
standing  in  the  windows.  Being  one  day  at  the  Presbytery 
with  the  Mayor,  I  heard  several  loud  blows  such  as  the 
children  could  not  have  produced.  I  put  my  hand  and 
ear  against  the  wainscot,  and  very  distinctly  felt  the  vibra- 
tions and  the  place  where  the  blows  were  struck. 


Poltergeists  157 

M.  Bouffay  had  heard  raps  and  noises  "in  those 
rooms  only  where  the  children  were."     He  adds  : 

I  also  saw,  both  upstairs  and  downstairs,  the  perfectly  iso- 
lated table  move  without  any  force  that  I  could  see  to  cause 
the  movement.  On  the  second  visit  I  scarcely  saw  any- 
thing. On  the  third  visit  I  saw  pretty  much  the  same  things 
as  on  the  first.  I  noticed  that  the  children  were  perfectly 
motionless  when  the  sound  was  produced,  so  could  not  have 
made  it  themselves.  I  heard  it  when  the  Cure  was  absent 
from  the  Presbytery  as  well  as  in  his  presence.  It  was  impossi- 
ble that  either  he  or  the  children  should  have  had  anything 
to  do  with  the  noise,  because  it  was  too  loud. 

Further,  the  witness  said  that  when  he  returned 
with  M.  Tinel  and  the  children  from  the  house  of 
one  of  thejnhabitants  of  the  commune,  where  they 
had  slept  on  account  of  the  noises  at  the  Presby- 
tery, just  as  the  children  were  going  up  to  their 
room  to  ascertain  if  all  was  at  an  end,  he  saw  a 
phantom-like  vapour  go  with  great  rapidity  through 
the  kitchen  door  towards  the  room  where  the 
children   were. 

M.  Breard,  when  at  breakfast  with  MM.  Bouffay 
and  Tinel,  had  heard  an  alarming  knock  on  the 
floor  beneath  the  table,  and  was  certain  that  neither 
the  children  nor  the  Cure  could  have  caused  it. 

Dufour,  a  postman,  saw  a  table  move  without 
any  one  touching  it.  Lecontre,  a  carpenter,  testi- 
fied to  a  stone  being  mysteriously  thrown.  Le- 
seigneur,  eighteen  years  of  age,  a  farmer,  "saw  a 
hammer  impelled  by  some  occult  force  start  from 
the  top  of  the  table  and  fly  at  the  window,  break- 


15S  Poltergeists 

ing  two  panes.  I  also  saw  a  shoe  leave  the  pupil's 
foot  and  go  and  break  a  pane."  He  saw  several 
other  movements  of  objects,  and  was  certain  that 
neither  of  the  pupils  caused  them. 

Practically  all  the  witnesses  were  confident  that 
the  movements  and  noises  could  not  have  been 
caused  by  the  children  or  by  M.  Tinel.  The  only 
hint  of  a  normal  explanation  which  appears,  in 
some  eighty  typewritten  pages  of  evidence,  is  a 
statement  by  one  or  two  of  the  witnesses  that  they 
had  heard  a  M.  Fontaine  call  out  from  the  window 
that  he  had  caught  the  younger  boy  in  the  act  of 
cheating.  Now  Maitre  Fontaine,  apparently  the 
same  person,  was  the  counsel  for  the  plaintiff,  and 
was  presumably  precluded  from  giving  evidence  in 
his  own  person.  He  cross-examined  Lemonnier, 
however,  on  the  incident  of  the  alleged  detection, 
but  the  boy  seems  to  have  stood  the  examination 
with  great  self-possession,  and  made  no  damaging 
admissions.  On  Maitre  Fontaine's  attempting  to 
cross-examine  the  elder  boy,  Bunel,  to  similar 
effect,  the  Judge  disallowed  the  questions  as  being 
irrelevant  and  contrary  to  the  dignity  of  justice. 
The  Court,  in  fact,  seems  to  have  been  not  very 
wise,  perhaps  not  quite  impartial,  and  certainly  un- 
duly sensitive  as  to  its  own  dignity.  In  the  sum- 
ming up  of  the  case  the  Judge  found  that  "the 
most  clear  result  of  all  the  evidence  is  that  the 
cause  [of  the  disturbances]  remains  unknown." 
Thorel  was  nonsuited,  on  the  ground  that,  if  he 
had  not  done  the  things  himself,  he  had  said  that 


Poltergeists  159 

he  had,  and  had,  further,  professed  contrition  for 
his  offence.^ 

The  case  is  an  interesting  one  from  several 
points  of  view.  M.  Tinel  and  his  brother  priests, 
and  the  Catholic  witnesses  generally,  seem  to  have 
been  quite  satisfied  of  the  diabolical  nature  of  the 
visitation.  Thorel,  it  is  clear,  brought  his  fate 
upon  himself.  The  evidence  leaves  no  doubt  that 
he  had  freely  boasted  of  his  powers  as  a  sorcerer ; 
and  that  he  had  actually  fallen  on  his  knees  and 
begged  pardon  of  the  Cure  and  of  the  child  Le- 
monnier.  Perhaps  Thorel  believed  in  his  own 
powers.  A  curious  illustration  is  given  of  the  suc- 
cess of  a  suggestion  made  by  him.  Further,  it 
appears  from  the  evidence  of  Cheval,  the  Mayor, 
that  Thorel  was  somehow  associated  with  one 
Gosselin,  a  very  learned  man,  who  had  presumed 
to  visit  a  sick  person  with  the  view  of  curing  him, 
and  had  been  denounced  by  the  Cure  Tinel,  and 
put  in  prison  for  his  pains.  Naturally  Gosselin 
came  out  of  prison  vowing  vengeance  on  the  Cure. 

The  reference  to  witchcraft  is  exceptional 
amongst  latter-day  Poltergeists,  at  any  rate  in  this 
country.  But  in  this  respect  the  Cideville  case 
resembles  the  case  of  the  Drummer  of  Tedworth 
already  referred  to,  and  other  earlier  narratives. 
Mr.  Lang  cites  a  case  occurring  in  Lincolnshire  in 

'  A  copy  of  the  court  records  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Society  for  Psy- 
chical Research.  Mr.  Lang  gives  a  summary  of  the  case  in  Proceedings,  S. 
P.  R.,  vol.  xviii.,  pp.  454-463.  An  account  of  the  case  is  given  by  R. 
Dale  Owen  in  his  Footfalls  on  the  Boundary  of  Another  World. 


i6o  Poltergeists 

1867,  in  which  a  woman  laid  a  spell  upon  the  serv- 
ant girl  of  a  rival  witch,  and  caused  her  to  make 
knockings  and  move  the  furniture.^  It  is  probable, 
in  fact,  that  the  idea  of  being  bewitched,  acting 
upon  an  hysterical  temperament,  may  in  many  cases 
prove  the  efficient  cause  of  disturbances. 

But  in  other  respects  the  Cideville  case  is,  as 
said,  a  fairly  typical  one.  It  will  be  observed,  first, 
that  all  the  disturbances  occurred  in  the  presence 
of  the  two  children  ;  many  of  them  in  their  im- 
mediate neighbourhood.  Further,  it  appears,  even 
by  the  description  of  the  witnesses,  that  many  of 
the  things  could  have  been  done  by  the  children  in 
a  normal  manner.  In  most  other  instances  the 
margin  between  what  was  possible  and  what,  in 
the  view  of  the  witnesses,  was  not  possible  for  the 
children  to  have  accomplished,  was  very  narrow. 
M.  Leroux  is  satisfied  that  the  child  could  not 
have  replaced  the  toilet  articles  in  so  short  a  time. 
Madame  de  St.  Victor  is  satisfied  that  the  child 
could  not  have  rocked  the  chair.  Perhaps  M. 
Robert  de  St.  Victor  had  been  a  good  child  and 
had  never  played  tricks  with  chairs.  M.  Bouffay 
is  certain  that  the  children  could  not  have  made 
the  noise  which  he  heard,  because  it  was  too 
loud. 

But  there  remain  certain  things  which  cannot  be 
so  easily  explained  ;  such  as  the  moving  tongs  and 
shovel  testified  to  by  Cheval,  the  flying  hammer 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xvii.,  p.  320. 


Poltergeists  i6i 

witnessed  by  M.  Leroux  and  by  Leseigneur,  or  the 
candlestick  which  Madame  de  St.  Victor  watched 
in  its  flight. 

Now  the  disturbances  began  at  the  end  of  No- 
vember, 1850,  and  they  ended  on  the  15th  Feb- 
ruary, 1851,  so  that  the  occurrences  were  still 
fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  witnesses.  More  than 
one  of  the  most  inexplicable  events  are  testified  to 
by  witnesses  who,  if  strongly  predisposed  to  belief 
in  the  marvellous,  were,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  fairly 
well  educated.  Their  testimony  is  given  with  some 
care,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  witnesses 
honestly  believed  that  they  had  seen  and  heard 
things  inexplicable  by  natural  causes.  It  seems 
scarcely  credible  that  the  two  little  boys  should 
have  done  the  things  themselves  without  detection 
(save  in  one  doubtful  case)  and  apparently  without 
suspicion.  The  performance,  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered, lasted  for  some  weeks ;  and  the  actors 
throughout  the  time  were  constantly  called  upon 
to  play  their  parts  with  variations  before  an 
interested  and  not  wholly  uncritical  audience. 

The  explanation  in  fact  is  not  to  be  reached  from 
the  examination  of  any  single  case,  least  of  all  a 
case  where  personal  enquiry  and  interrogation  of 
the  witnesses  are  no  longer  possible.  But  these 
outbreaks,  as  said,  are  numerous  and  monotonously 
similar  in  their  general  features.  The  person  who 
is  the  centre  of  the  disturbance,  and  in  whose  ab- 
sence nothing  takes  place,  is  generally  a  child,  boy 
or  girl ;  more  rarely  a  young  servant  maid.     The 


1 62  Poltergeists 

phenomena,  again,  move  in  the  same  groove.  Many 
of  them,  as  desci'ibcd,  are  quite  inexplicable ;  es- 
pecially is  this  true  of  the  movements  of  objects, 
which  are  frequently  spoken  of  as  hovering,  float- 
ing, or  being  gently  wafted  by  an  invisible  agency. 
Members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  have 
from  time  to  time  investigated  on  the  spot  a  large 
number  of  these  occurrences.  Sometimes  the  dis- 
turbances had  ceased  before  the  investigator  had 
actually  arrived  on  the  scene,  and  it  has  been  pos- 
sible only  to  interrogate  the  witnesses  and  examine 
the  theatre  of  the  display.  But  in  one  or  two  in- 
stances we  have  actually  been  present  during 
the  performance,  and  have  detected  trickery  on  the 
part  of  the  children  ;  in  other  cases  trickery  has 
been  detected  at  the  time  by  others  ;  sometimes  the 
child  has  subsequently  confessed  to  trickery.  It 
would  not  be  fair,  on  the  sole  ground  that  trickery 
has  been  proved  to  account  for  some  of  the  move- 
ments and  noises  in  certain  cases,  to  infer  that 
trickery  is  the  explanation  of  all  the  disturbances 
in  all  cases.  The  real  justification  for  that  conclu- 
sion can  only  be  fully  appreciated  after  a  careful 
study  and  comparison  of  the  records.  Space  would 
not  permit  of  the  proof  being  stated  here  at 
adequate  length.  But  let  us  take,  as  an  illustra- 
tion merely,  the  evidence  just  quoted  in  the  Cide- 
ville  case.  On  a  superficial  reading  it  would  seem 
as  if  the  marvels  recounted  could  not  be  due  to  the 
trickery  of  a  couple  of  children.  But  we  may  see 
from  the  account  given  by  the  untrained  observer 


Poltergeists  163 

of  a  conjuring  trick  how  widely  the  thing  described 
may  differ  from  the  thing  done.  And  it  is  to  be 
noted,  in  the  Cideville  case,  that  very  few  details 
are  given.  When,  for  instance,  Madame  de  St. 
Victor  saw  a  candlestick  leave  the  chimneypiece 
and  hit  the  femme  de  chambre,  we  want  to  know 
what  was  her  own  position  with  reference  to  the 
chimneypiece,  what  was  the  position  of  the  two 
children,  the  approximate  distance  of  the  children, 
the  femme  de  chambre,  and  herself  from  the  candle- 
stick, and  so  on.  The  account  implies  that  she 
actually  saw  the  candlestick  at  rest,  and  then  saw  it 
change  its  position  of  rest  for  motion  through  the 
air.  Did  she  really  see  this?  Was  she  really 
watching  the  candlestick  continuously,  or  did  she 
merely  remember  to  have  seen  it  at  one  moment  at 
rest,  and,  after  a  short  interval,  in  motion  through 
the  air?  It  is  difficult,  without  long  training,  to 
realise  how  small  is  the  part  played  in  general  per- 
ception by  actual  sensation,  especially  in  the  case 
of  retinal  impressions,  and  how  largely  those  retinal 
impressions  are  interpreted  and  supplemented  by 
immediate  and  unconscious  inference.  When  we 
are  dealing  with  familiar  matters  the  inference  is 
generally  correct ;  but  the  conjuror  induces  us  to 
adopt  a  wrong  inference — we  "  see  "  in  a  conjuring 
trick  something  which  does  not  really  take  place. 

Again,  when,  as  happens  in  many  cases,  the  ac- 
count is  not  written  down  until  some  time  after  the 
events,  errors  of  memory  may  distort  the  facts. 
Both  kinds  of  error  are  admirably  illustrated  in  Mr. 


1 64  Poltergeists 

Hodgson's  comments  on  the  experiments  in  slate- 
writing  made  with  Eglinton  and  Davey  discussed 
in  the  next  chapter.  That  such  errors,  of  observa- 
tion or  of  memory,  are  responsible  for  a  great  part 
at  any  rate  of  the  marvels  reported  in  Poltergeist 
cases,  we  can  often  find  out  by  comparison  of  the 
accounts  given  by  different  witnesses  of  the  same 
incident,  or  by  the  same  witness  at  different  times  ; 
or,  more  generally,  by  a  comparison  of  the  evidence 
given  by  educated  and  uneducated  witnesses. 

The  following  narrative,  which  we  owe  to  Mr. 
W.  G.  Grottendieck,  of  Dordrecht,  will  serve  to 
illustrate  the  two  main  sources  of  error  above  re- 
ferred to.  It  is  the  more  valuable  as  an  illustration 
because  Mr,  Grottendieck  is  a  particularly  scrupu- 
lous and  level-headed  witness,  and  apparently  a  close 
observer.     He  writes  as  follows  : 

Dordrecht,  January  27th,  1906. 
...  It  was  in  September,  1903,  that  the  following  abnormal 
fact  occurred  to  me.  Every  detail  of  it  has  been  examined 
by  me  very  carefully.  I  had  been  on  a  long  journey  through 
the  jungle  of  Palembang  and  Djambi  (Sumatra)  with  a  gang 
of  fifty  Javanese  coolies  for  exploring  purposes.  Coming  back 
from  the  long  trip,  I  found  that  my  home  had  been  occupied 
by  somebody  else  and  I  had  to  put  up  my  bed  in  another 
house  that  was  not  yet  ready,  and  had  just  been  erected  from 
wooden  poles  and  lalang  or  kadjang.  The  roof  was  formed 
of  great  dry  leaves  of  a  kind  called  "  kadjang  "  in  Palembang. 
These  great  leaves  are  arranged  one  overlapping  the  other. 
In  this  way  it  is  very  easy  to  form  a  roof  if  it  is  only  for  a 
temporary  house.  This  house  was  situated  pretty  far  away 
from  the  bore-places  belonging  to  the  oil  company,  in  whose 
service  I  was  working. 


Poltergeists  165 

I  put  my  bullsack  and  mosquito  curtain  on  the  wooden  floor 
and  soon  fell  asleep.  At  about  one  o'clock  at  night  I  half 
awoke,  hearing  something  fall  near  my  head  outside  the  mos- 
quito curtain  on  the  floor.  After  a  couple  of  minutes  I  com- 
pletely awoke  and  turned  my  head  around  to  see  what  was 
falling  down  on  the  floor.  They  were  black  stones  from  one 
eighth  to  three  quarters  of  an  inch  long.  I  got  out  of  the 
curtain  and  turned  up  the  kerosene  lamp,  that  was  standing 
on  the  floor  at  the  foot  of  my  bed.  I  saw  then  that  the  stones 
were  falling  through  the  roof  in  a  parabolic  line.  They  fell 
on  the  floor  close  to  my  head-pillow.  I  went  out  and  awoke 
the  boy  (a  Malay-Palembang  coolie)  who  was  sleeping  on  the 
floor  in  the  next  room.  I  told  him  to  go  outside  and  to  ex- 
amine the  jungle  up  to  a  certain  distance.  He  did  so  whilst  I 
lighted  up  the  jungle  a  little  by  means  of  a  small  "  ever-ready  " 
electric  lantern.  At  the  same  time  that  my  boy  was  outside 
the  stones  did  not  stop  falling.  My  boy  came  in  again,  and  I 
told  him  to  search  the  kitchen  to  see  if  anybody  could  be 
there.  He  went  to  the  kitchen  and  I  went  inside  the  room 
again  to  watch  the  stones  falling  down.  I  knelt  down  near 
[the  head  of  my  bed]  and  tried  to  catch  the  stones  while  they 
were  falling  through  the  air  towards  me,  but  I  could  never 
catch  them  ;  //  seemed  to  me  that  they  changed  their  direction  in 
the  air  as  soon  as  I  tried  to  get  hold  of  them.  I  could  not  catch 
any  of  them  before  they  fell  on  the  floor.  Then  I  climbed  up 
[the  partition  wall  between  my  room  and  the  boy's]  and  ex- 
amined [the  roof  just  above  it  from  which]  the  stones  were 
flying.  They  came  right  through  the  "  kadjang,"  but  there 
were  no  holes  in  the  kadjang.  When  I  tried  to  catch  them 
there  at  the  very  spot  of  coming  out,  I  also  failed. 

When  I  came  down,  my  boy  had  returned  from  the  kitchen 
and  told  me  there  was  nobody.  But  I  still  thought  that  some- 
body might  be  playing  a  practical  joke,  so  I  took  my  Mauser 
rifle  and  fired  five  sharp  cartridges  into  the  jungle  from  [the 
window  of  the  boy's  room].  But  the  stones,  far  from  stopping, 
fell  even  more  abundantly  after  my  shots  than  before. 

After  this  shooting  the  boy  became  fully  awake  (it  seemed 


1 66  Poltergeists 

to  me  that  he  had  been  dozing  all  the  time  before),  and  he 
looked  inside  the  room.  When  he  saw  the  stones  fall  down, 
he  told  me  it  was  "  Satan  "  who  did  that,  and  he  was  so  greatly- 
scared  that  he  ran  away  in  the  pitch-dark  night.  After  he 
had  run  away  the  stones  ceased  to  fall,  and  I  never  saw  the 
boy  back  again.  1  did  not  notice  anything  particular  about 
the  stones  except  that  they  were  warmer  than  they  would 
have  been  under  ordinary  circumstances. 

In  a  later  letter  dated  ist  February,  1906,  Mr. 
Grottendieck  adds : 

(3)  The  boy  certainly  did  not  do  it,  because  at  the  same 
time  that  I  bent  over  him,  while  he  was  sleeping  on  the  floor, 
to  awake  him,  there  fell  a  couple  of  stones.     .     .     . 

(8)  They  fell  rather  slowly.  Now,  supposing  that  somebody 
might  by  trickery  have  forced  them  through  the  roof,  or 
supposing  they  had  not  come  through  it  at  all, — even  then 
there  would  remain  something  mysterious  about  it,  because  it 
seemed  to  me  that  they  were  hovering  through  the  air  ;  they 
described  a  parabolic  line  and  then  came  down  with  a  bang 
on  the  floor.' 

Mr.  Grottendieck  explains  that  the  stones,  which 
have  unfortunately  been  lost,  were  black  and  pol- 
ished, but  not  crystalline,  more  like  anthracite, 
but  not  with  such  sharp  edges.  They  were  light 
like  anthracite. 

He  adds,  in  a  letter  dated  February  13,  1906  : 

I  hope  that  my  plan  is  plain  enough  to  give  you  an  idea  of 
the  way  in  which  I  watched  the  stones  coming  through  the 
roof.  I  was  inside  the  room,  climbed  up  along  the  framework 
to  the  top  of  the  wall,  held  on  with  one  hand  to  the  frame- 
work, and  tried  to  catch  the  stones  with  the  other  hand,  at  the 
same  time  seeing  the  boy  lying  down  sleeping  outside  (in  the 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  May,  1906. 


Poltergeists  167 

other  room)  on  the  floor  behind  the  door,  the  space  being  lit 
up  by  means  of  a  lamp  in  his  room.  The  construction  of  the 
house  was  such  that  it  was  impossible  to  throw  the  stones 
through  the  open  space  from  outside. 

I  wrote  before  that  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  boy  had  been 
dozing  all  the  time  after  I  awoke  him.  1  got  that  impression 
because  his  movements  seemed  to  me  abnormally  slow  ;  his 
rising  up,  his  walking  around,  and  everything  seemed  extra- 
ordinarily slow.  These  movements  gave  me  the  same  strange 
impression  as  the  slowly  falling  stones. 

When  I  think  over  this  last  fact  (for  I  remember  very  well 
the  strange  impression  the  slowly  moving  boy  made  on  me)  I 
feel  now  inclined  to  suggest  the  hypothesis  that  there  might 
have  been  something  abnormal  in  my  own  condition  at  the 
time.  For  having  read  in  the  Proceeditigs  about  hallucina- 
tions, I  dare  not  state  any  more  that  the  stones  in  reality 
moved  slowly  ;  it  might  have  been  on  account  of  some  condi- 
tion of  my  own  sensory  organs  that  it  seemed  to  me  that  they 
did,  though  at  that  time  I  was  not  in  the  least  interested  in 
the  question  of  hallucinations  or  of  spiritism.  I  am  afraid 
that  the  whole  thing  will  ever  remain  a  puzzle  to  me. 

Now,  there  is  one  serious  discrepancy  in  this 
account.  According  to  his  original  version  Mr. 
Grottendieck's  first  step,  after  being  awakened  by 
the  falling  stones,  was  to  go  into  the  next  room, 
and  wake  up  the  boy.  The  boy  then  searched  the 
jungle,  and  on  his  return  was  told  to  search  the 
kitchen.  Mr.  Grottendieck  climbed  the  partition 
whilst  the  boy  was  searching  the  kitchen.  But  in 
his  later  letter  he  describes  seeing  the  boy  asleep 
whilst  he  is  himself  on  the  partition,  trying  to  catch 
the  stones  as  they  fall.  One  of  these  two  accounts 
then — we  cannot  tell  which — must  be  inaccurate  in 
regard  to  the  important  detail  of  the  boy's  position 


1 68  Poltergeists 

at  the  time.  If  one  is  inaccurate,  both  may  be. 
Further,  if  it  is  only  by  the  accident  of  there  being 
two  accounts  that  this  inaccuracy  has  become  mani- 
fest, we  are  entitled  to  infer  that  there  are  probably 
other  inaccuracies  which  happen  not  to  have  been 
manifested.^ 

Another  class  of  error  is  illustrated  by  Mr.  Grot- 
tendieck's  statement  that  he  "  saw  quite  distinctly 
that  the  stones  came  right  through  the  kadjang."  ^ 
As  Mr.  E.  T.  Dixon  has  pointed  out  in  his  com- 
ments on  the  case,  "  no  retinal  image  or  succession 
of  retinal  images  could  have  recorded  the  passage 
of  stones  through  the  kadjang  ;  he  can  only  have 
(unconsciously)  inferred  that  the  stones  passed 
through  from  the  fact  that  he  was  not  aware  of  any 
retinal  image  representing  them  coming  up  to  the 
ceiling  from  the  boy's  hand  (or  wherever  they  did 
come  from)." 

It  is  probable  that  the  appearance  of  the  stones 
falling  slowly  is  also,  as  Mr.  Grottendieck  himself 
suggests,  due  to  a  sensory  fallacy  of  another  kind. 
This  appearance  is  very  commonly  reported  of  the 
objects  seen  to  move  through  the  air  in  Poltergeist 
cases.     Such  an  appearance  would  be   caused  by 

'  In  a  final  letter,  published  in  the  Journal  iox  July,  1906,  Mr.  Grotten- 
dieck, in  reference  to  the  discrepancy  between  his  two  accounts,  suggests 
"  that  the  boy  must  have  returned  from  the  kitchen  during  the  time  that  I 
was  climbing  up  the  partition,  and  that  he  must  have  put  himself  down  on 
the  floor  again  to  continue  his  sleep."  But  this  supposition  seems  incon- 
sistent with  the  statement  in  the  original  account  that  when  Mr.  Grotten- 
dieck came  down  from  the  partition  the  boy  "had  returned  from  the  kitchen 
and  told  him  there  was  nobody." 

"  The  quotation  is  from  the  letter  of  the  ist  February. 


Poltergeists  169 

any  temporary  aberration  in  the  estimation  of  time  ; 
and  we  know  that  such  erroneous  estimates  occur 
in  delirium,  and  under  the  influence  of  haschish, 
and  other  drugs/  and  apparently  in  the  partial  dis- 
sociation of  consciousness  which  accompanies  many 
waking  hallucinations," 

It  should  be  added  that  the  hallucinations  de- 
scribed by  the  child  Lemonnier  may  perhaps  have 
been  genuine.  The  young  persons  round  whom 
these  disturbances  occur  frequently  describe  halluci- 
natory figures  seen  by  them,  and  there  is  evidence, 
in  many  of  the  cases  investigated  by  or  reported  to 
the  Society,  of  hysteria  or  marked  abnormality  of 
one  kind  or  another. 

It  is  only  by  a  fortunate  accident  that  we  are  able, 
here  and  there,  to  analyse  the  evidence  for  the 
spontaneous  phenomena  of  the  Poltergeist,  and 
demonstrate  its  untrustworthiness.  But  in  the  next 
chapter  we  shall  see  how  little  to  be  trusted  are  the 
statements  of  competent  witnesses  as  to  phenomena 

'  See,  e.  g.,  the  account  given  by  Mr.  Ernest  Dunbar  of  the  influence  of 
haschish  on  himself.  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xix,,  p.  69. 

^  See  Parish,  Hallucinations  and  Illusions.  The  case  has  been  quoted 
at  length  for  its  psychological  interest.  It  only  remains  to  add  that  the 
heathen  Malay  in  Ithe  case  was  probably  as  innocent  as  the  Poltergeist 
himself.  Mr.  H.  N. [Ridley,  F.  R.  S.,  of  the  Botanical  Gardens,  Singapore, 
suggests  that  the  "stones"  which  fell  may  have  been  seeds  of  some  fruit 
dropped  from  the  kadjang  roof  by  fruit-bats.  The  description  of  the  stones 
themselves,  the  manner  of  their  falling,  and  the  fact  that  they  felt  warmer 
than  real  stones  would  in  similar  circumstances,  are  all  consistent  with  this 
explanation.  So  also  is  the  fact,  recorded  in  Mr.  Grottendieck's  letter  of 
the  1st  February,  that  "  the  same  thing  happened  to  me  about  a  week  before; 
but  on  that  occasion  I  was  standing  outside  in  the  open  air  near  a  tree  in 
the  jungle,  and  as  it  was  impossible  to  control  it  that  time  (it  might  have 
been  a  monkey  that  did  it)  I  did  not  pay  much  attention  to  it." 


1 70  Poltergeists 

occurring  in  their  presence  under  conditions  which 
are  certainly  more  favourable  for  observation  than 
those  obtaining  in  the  Poltergeist  disturbances.^ 

'  For  an  analysis  of  the  evidence  in  some  of  the  cases  investigated  by  the 
Society,  see  my  article  on  Poltergeists  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xii., 
pp.  45-115.  Also  my  Modern  Spiritualism,  vol.  i.,  pp.  25-43.  See  also 
Mr.  Lang's  Cock  Lane  and  Common  Sense,  his  articles  in  Proceedings,  S.  P. 
R.,  vol.  xvii,,  p,  305,  and  elsewhere. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SPIRITUALISM 

/^NE  of  the  chief  objects  which  the  Society  for 
^-^  Psychical  Research  set  before  itself  was  the 
investigation  of  the  physical  phenomena  of  Spirit- 
ualism. The  question  seemed  one  of  considerable 
importance,  because  from  the  belief  in  these  phe- 
nomena as  due  to  spiritual  agency  there  had  sprung 
up  a  quasi-religious  movement  of  an  international 
character  which  claimed  at  one  period  to  number 
its  adherents  by  millions.  Moreover,  apart  from 
the  credulous  and  unthinking  majority,  there  was  a 
small  body  of  men  whose  opinions  and  testimony  in 
any  matter  could  not  be  lightly  disregarded,  who 
believed  in  and  testified  of  their  own  experience  to 
things  which  seemed,  and  perhaps  still  seem,  inex- 
plicable by  any  known  cause.  It  was  not  easy  to 
dismiss  the  whole  subject  as  unworthy  of  investiga- 
tion. The  explanation  of  the  facts  recorded  by  Sir 
William  Crookes  and  others  does  not  lie  on  the 
surface.  It  may  be  that  these  facts  will  ultimately 
find  their  explanation  in  causes  neither  remote  nor 
unfamiliar.  But  certainly  no  one  at  that  time,  and 
perhaps  no  one  now,  is  in  a  position  to  aftirm,  with 
such  certainty  as  we  bring  to  the  other  affairs  of 

171 


172  Spiritualism 

life,  what  the  explanation  may  be.  And  whatever 
may  be  thought  of  the  phenomena,  it  remained  a 
palpable  fact  that  there  were  tens  and  perhaps  even 
hundreds  of  thousands  in  this  and  other  civilised 
countries,^  who  had  adopted  a  particular  interpreta- 
tion of  these  phenomena ;  that  their  conduct  was 
influenced,  their  lives  shaped,  their  aspirations  de- 
termined, by  that  interpretation.  The  extraordinary 
growth  of  the  movement,  the  number  of  its  ad- 
herents, and  their  fidelity  through  evil  and  good 
report,  made  Spiritualism  an  important  historical 
fact.  If  the  beliefs  and  ideas  of  this  large  body  of 
men  and  women  were  indeed  based  on  fraud  and  de- 
lusion, it  became  a  matter  of  some  social  importance 
to  expose  the  deception.  And  it  was  clear  that 
nothing  short  of  a  systematic  and  organised  effort 
was  likely  to  accomplish  what  was  required. 

Occasional  revelations  of  fraud  on  the  part  of 
mediums  had  done  little  to  damp  the  ardour  of  the 
believers.  So  long  as  it  was  possible  to  appeal 
to  unexplained  marvels  in  the  past,  so  long  was  it 
easy  for  most  minds  to  regard  each  successive  ex- 
posure of  trickery  as  an  isolated  incident.  It  was 
manifest  indeed  that  the  mediums  had  not  suffered 
irretrievably,  either  in  purse  or  reputation,  from 
repeated  exposures.  Their  business  had  no  doubt 
met  with  a  slight  check  in  the  four  or  five  years 
immediately  preceding  the  foundation  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research.     But  this  was  partly  due 

•  Sir  W.  Crookes  wrote,  in  1871,  that  Spiritualism  "  numbers  its  adherents 
by  millions"  (Researches  in  Spiritualism,  p.  33). 


Spiritualism  1 73 

to  the  rival  attractions  of  Theosophy  and  the  thau- 
maturgic  feats  of  Madame  Blavatsky.  Further, 
some  of  the  most  noted  mediums  of  the  earlier 
generation  had  withdrawn  from  the  active  pursuit 
of  their  profession.  D.  D.  Home  had  retired  into 
private  life  some  years  before.  Mr.  Moses'  physical 
phenomena  had  ceased  in  1880  or  thereabouts. 
Slade  was,  indeed,  willing,  it  was  understood,  to 
give  sittings,  but  was  prevented  from  coming  to 
England  by  reason  of  the  legal  proceedings  which 
Professor  Lankester  had  instituted  against  him  in 
1876,  and  which  were  still  pending.  But  the  phe- 
nomena still  continued,  though  the  performers  came 
somewhat  less  prominently  before  the  public  eye. 
Eglinton  continued  to  give  slate-writing  perform- 
ances for  some  years ;  and  both  he  and  other 
physical  mediums  exhibited  materialisations — some- 
times in  surprising  variety — at  dark  seances.  In- 
deed, dark  seances  for  materialisation,  though  now 
much  more  difficult  of  access  to  those  who  have 
given  no  pledges  of  fidelity,  have  continued  down 
to  the  present  time. 

In  1882,  therefore,  though  the  physical  phe- 
nomena of  Spiritualism  were  certainly  less  startling 
and  less  abundant  than  they  had  been  for  some 
years  previously,  there  seemed  still  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  there  would  be  ample  material  for  in- 
vestigation. Indeed,  Professor  H.  Sidgwick,  in 
the  course  of  his  first  Presidential  address  to  the 
nascent  Society,  delivered  at  Willis's  Rooms  in 
July,  1882,  after  explaining  that  the  Society  would 


174  Spiritualism 

by  preference  turn  its  attention  to  physical  phe- 
nomena occurring  in  private  circles,  thought  himself 
justified  in  assuming  the  existence  of  a  mass  of 
evidence  of  this  kind.  Mr.  Sidpfwick  went  on  to 
express  the  hope  that  the  occurrence  of  such  phe- 
nomena would  be  more  rapidly  and  extensively 
communicated  to  the  representatives  of  the  Society 
for  impartial  investigation.  That  hope  was  not 
destined  to  be  realised.  In  the  twenty-five  years 
which  have  elapsed,  whilst  few  opportunities  have 
been  afforded  to  the  Society's  representatives  for 
continuous  investigation  of  any  sort,  no  positive 
results  have  been  obtained  worthy  of  record. 

In  short,  just  when  an  organised  and  systematic 
investigation  on  a  scale  not  inadequate  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  subject  was  for  the  first  time  about 
to  be  made,  the  phenomena  to  be  investigated 
diminished  rapidly  in  frequency  and  importance, 
and  the  opportunities  for  investigation  were  further 
curtailed  by  the  indifference  or  reluctance  of  the 
mediums  to  submit  their  claims  to  examination. 
The  researches  of  the  Society  have  not,  however, 
been  entirely  fruitless.  On  the  one  hand,  some  of 
us  have  had  the  opportunity  of  witnessing  in  private 
circles  physical  movements  and  other  phenomena, 
claimed  as  due  to  occult  forces,  which  on  further 
examination  have  proved  to  be  produced  fraudu- 
lently. In  two  of  these  cases  at  least  the  "  medium  " 
was  a  well-educated  man,  with  no  apparent  motive 
for  deception,  and  the  deception  itself  was  of  a 
systematic  kind,  involving  careful  preparation.   The 


Spiritualism  175 

proof  that  disinterested  fraud  of  this  kind  may  be 
practised  by  persons  on  whom  the  ordinary  motives 
of  pecuniary  gain  or  notoriety  can  hardly  be  sup- 
posed to  operate  has  been  found  of  considerable 
value  in  interpreting  some  of  the  most  puzzling 
problems  of  Spiritualism. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  series  of  careful  investiga- 
tions by  some  members  of  the  Society  has  thrown 
valuable  light  on  the  nature  of  the  psychological 
processes  which  facilitate  deception  at  a  spiritual- 
istic seance.  Accurate  observation  of  the  phe- 
nomena occurring  at  the  ordinary  seance  is,  indeed, 
rarely  possible,  because  the  sitting  generally  takes 
place  in  a  subdued  light ;  and,  further,  because 
many  of  the  more  striking  phenomena  occur  im- 
promptu, when  the  experimenter,  not  knowing 
what  to  expect,  is  not  fully  prepared  for  observa- 
tion. But  there  was  one  particular  manifestation 
which  seemed  to  offer  every  facility  for  investiga- 
tion,— the  performance  of  writing  on  slates,  as 
exhibited  in  England  by  the  American  medium, 
Slade,  in  1876,  and  later  by  William  Eglinton. 
The  performance  took  place  in  daylight ;  it  was 
fairly  constant  in  its  appearance,  instances  of  com- 
pletely unsuccessful  seances  being  relatively  rare  ; 
and  from  the  nature  of  the  exhibition  the  con- 
ditions presented,  or  seemed  to  present,  the  fullest 
opportunity  for  examination.  A  prominent  Spirit- 
ualist wrote  in  1886  of  an  exhibition  by  Eglinton  : 
"  The  facts  are  of  so  simple  a  nature  that  they 
could  as  well  be  observed  by  any  ordinary  intel- 


176  Spiritualism 

ligence  as  by  the  most  scientific  member  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research."  ^  And  it  is  diffi- 
cult on  reading  the  reports  furnished  by  intelligent 
witnesses  to  avoid  endorsingthis  statement.  Briefly, 
the  manifestation  in  its  typical  form  is — or  was  a 
few  years  ago — as  follows :  Medium  and  sitter  take 
their  seats  cornerwise  at  an  ordinary  wooden  table 
without  a  cloth.  A  common  school  slate,  with  a 
fragment  of  slate-pencil  on  it,  is  held  by  one  hand 
of  each  person,  with  the  upper  surface  pressed  close 
against  the  under  surface  of  the  table.  The  sitter, 
by  direction  of  the  medium,  asks  a  question  of  the 
spirits.  The  sound  of  writing  is  heard.  The  slate 
is  lifted  up,  and  an  answer  to  the  question  is  found 
scrawled  on  its  surface. 

The  witnesses  of  1886  testified  to  writing  on 
slates  marked  by  the  sitters  ;  answers  to  questions 
written  down  and  not  shown  to  the  medium ;  an- 
swers to  mental  questions  ;  the  receipt  of  long  com- 
munications relevant  to  the  conversation  of  the 
moment ,  and,  occasionally,  the  reproduction  of 
words  from  the  given  page  of  a  book  chosen  by 
the  sitter.  The  sittings  took  place  in  broad  day- 
light ;  and  many  of  the  witnesses  reported  that  they 
were  permitted  to  bring  their  own  slates,  to  mark 
the  slates  used,  to  tie  or  even  lock  the  double 
slates,  to  hold  them  above  the  table,  and  to  take 
other  necessary  precautions  against  fraud. 

The  present  writer  attended  a  seance  with  Slade 

'  Mr.  Hensleigh  Wedgwood,  in  the  Journal,  S.  P.  R,,  November,  1886, 
p.  457- 


spiritualism  177 

in  1876,  and  was  for  years  after  convinced  that 
what  he  had  seen  could  not  be  accounted  for  by 
any  forces  known  to  science.  I  am  glad  to  say 
that  my  conviction  has  been  shared  by  many  con- 
jurers, professional  and  amateur.^  No  Spiritualist 
marvel,  indeed,  has  seemed  more  inexplicable,  and 
none,  happily  for  our  purpose,  has  been  so  freely 
and  fully  attested.  Thus  in  the  Spiritualist  journal, 
Light,  for  October,  1886,  the  testimony  of  about  a 
hundred  observers,  amongst  them  many  persons  of 
intellectual  distinction,  is  quoted  as  endorsing  the 
genuineness  of  the  manifestation. 

In  view  of  these  considerations  the  Society 
selected  the  manifestation  of  slate-writing,  as  pre- 
sented by  the  medium  Eglinton,  for  the  purpose  of 
a  crucial  investigation.  At  the  instance  of  the 
Society,  several  witnesses  went  in  couples  to  the 
performance  and  wrote  independent  accounts  of 
what  they  saw.  And,  from  a  minute  examination, 
the  late  Dr.  Richard  Hodgson  was  able  to  demon- 
strate frequent  and,  as  he  showed,  significant  dis- 
crepancies in  these  separate  accounts.  In  a  word, 
the  witnesses  did  as  we  all  do — they  selected  for 
record  what  appeared  to  them  the  most  important 
incidents  and  omitted  what  seemed  to  them  irrele- 
vant. But  occasionally  a  witness  more  scrupulous 
than  most  would  record  some  of  these  irrelevant 
incidents  ;  and  it  is  precisely  in  these  that  the  key 
to  the  whole  performance  is  to  be  found.  Eglin- 
ton, it  would  thus  appear,  was  habitually  affected 

•  See  the  instances  quoted  in  my  Modern  Spiritualism,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  204-7. 


1 78  Spiritualism 

at  these  seances  with  a  distressing  cough  ;  he  would 
constantly — through  fatigue,  as  he  alleged — change 
the  position  of  his  limbs  or  even  shift  momentarily 
the  hand  which  held  the  slate  ;  sometimes  the  slate 
itself  would  be  dropped  on  the  floor ;  he  would  now 
and  again  go  to  the  door  to  answer  a  summons 
from  the  servant.  Ordinary  good  manners  would 
prevent  the  visitor  from  taking  notice  of  such  inci- 
dents at  the  time,  and  generally  they  would  leave 
no  trace  in  the  memory.  But  the  cough  would 
have  served  to  hide  the  sound  of  an  unlocked  slate 
or  an  unfolded  paper ;  the  shifting  of  the  hand  ad- 
mitted of  the  shifting  of  the  slate  also  ;  the  move- 
ment to  the  door  gave  opportunity  for  an  actual 
substitution.  In  fact,  the  performance,  as  was  soon 
to  be  proved,  was  commonly  effected  in  one  of  two 
ways.  The  shorter  messages  were  actually  written 
by  Eglinton  on  the  under  surface  whilst  the  slate 
was  being  held  under  the  table,  and  opportunity 
was  subsequently  found,  without  exciting  the  sit- 
ter's suspicions,  to  reverse  the  slate  ;  the  longer 
messages  were  written  beforehand  on  another  slate, 
and  opportunity  found  for  substitution.  When  the 
secret  was  guessed  expert  observers  could  watch 
all  the  processes  of  legerdemain  throughout  the 
performance. 

The  following  extracts  from  independent  ac- 
counts written  by  two  Associates  of  the  Society, 
Mr.  G.  A.  Smith  and  the  late  Mr.  J.  Murray  Tem- 
pleton,  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  nature  of  the 
discrepancies  and  omissions  actually  observed,  or 


Spiritualism  179 

inferred,  in  the  accounts.  The  incident  described 
by  Mr.  Smith  stands,  it  must  be  admitted,  alto- 
gether beyond  the  scope  of  legerdemain ;  if  we 
accept  the  description  as  accurate — and  Mr.  Smith 
as  a  witness  stands  probably  well  above  the  aver- 
age— it  would  go  far  to  justify  the  Spiritualist 
belief  in  the  operation  of  a  novel  power  wielded  by 
an  extraneous  intelligence. 

From  Mr.  G.  A.  Smith  ' 

I2th  June,  1885 

[The  account  was  written  on  the  day  following  the  seance.] 

.  .   .  We  now  expressed  our  desire  to  get  something  written 

which  could  be  regarded  as  outside  the  knowledge  of  any  of 

us — such  as  a  certain  word  on  a  given  line  of  a  chosen  page  of 

a  book. 

I  then  went  to  the  bookshelf,  took  a  book  at  haphazard, 
without  of  course  looking  at  the  title,  returned  to  my  seat, 
placed  the  book  upon  the  chair,  and  sat  upon  it  whilst  we  were 
arranging  the  page,  line,  and  word  to  be  asked  for.  This  point 
Mr.  Templeton  and  I  decided  by  each  taking  a  few  crayons 
and  pencils  from  the  table  by  chance,  and  counting  them  ; 
Mr.  Templeton  had  possessed  himself  of  i8  pieces  of  crayon, 
and  I  had  seized  9  pieces  of  pencil,  we  found  on  counting 
them;  we  therefore  decided  that  the  "controls"  should  be 
asked  to  write  the  last  word  oi  line  18  on  page  9  of  the  book. 
This  article  I  now  produced,  and  laid  it  upon  one  of  my  slates, 
and  Mr.  Eglinton  held  the  two  close  beneath  the  underneath 
of  the  table — the  book  of  course  being  held  firmly  closed  be- 
tween the  table  and  the  slate.  We  then  commenced  conversing; 
in  the  midst  of  Mr.  Eglinton's  own  remarks  the  writing  was 
heard  to  commence.  For  about  25  seconds  he  was  talking  and 
the  writing  was  going  on  simultaneously  ;  he  then  ceased,  and 

^Journal,  S.  V.  R.,  June,  1886. 


i8o  Spiritualism 

the  writing  continued  a  few  more  seconds  before  the  three  taps 
came  indicating  its  conchision.  The  message  we  found  was 
as  follows  :  "  This  is  a  Hungarian  book  of  poems.  The  last 
word  of  page  i8  (page  9,  line  18)  is  bunhoseded." 

After  we  had  observed  that  a  mistake  in  the  figures  had  been 
corrected  in  parenthesis,  I  opened  the  book  at  page  9,  and  we 
found  that  the  last  word  on  line  18  of  that  page  was  "bun- 
hodesed."  Remarking  upon  the  fact  that  the  last  two  syllables 
of  the  word  had  been  transposed,  we  asked  the  "  controls  "  if 
it  was  a  mistake,  and  how  it  had  arisen  ;  we  received  the 
written  reply  :  "  Yes.  We  have  not  power  to  properly  read 
the  last  word." 

As  a  test  experiment  I  think  this  may  be  regarded  as  a  very 
successful  and  crucial  one  ;  for  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that 
Mr.  Eglinton  can  have  committed  to  memory  the  exact  posi- 
tion of  every  word  in  every  book  on  his  bookshelves — con- 
taining some  200  books,  or  more.  And  it  is  easy  for  us  to  say 
with  confidence  that  all  his  movements  were  so  carefully 
watched  that  the  slightest  attempt  on  his  part  to  open  the 
book,  or  even  to  touch  it,  would  have  been  detected  almost 
before  the  attempt  was  made  ;  and  it  is  a  fact  that  the  book 
was  never  once  touched  by  him,  and  could  not  possibly  have 
had  one  of  its  leaves  exposed  to  his  view  for  an  instant,  let 
alone  page  9  long  enough  to  enable  him  to  count  down  to  the 
1 8th  line.  Of  course  the  test  would  have  greater  value  as  such 
had  we  been  able  to  use  a  book  which  we  could  be  certain  he 
had  never  read;  but  if  this  point  tells  against  the  result,  the 
fact  that  by  a  happy  chance  my  selection  caused  a  Hungarian 
book  of  poems  to  be  used  should  surely  counterbalance  this 
evidential  flaw  to  a  great  extent,  and  reduce  the  chances  of 
his  having  memorised  the  position  of  every  word  in  it  to  a 
minimum.  That  I  was  not  forced  to  take  this  special  book 
from  its  being  in  a  particularly  handy  and  prominent  position, 
and  that  page  9  and  line  18  were  not  "led  up  to"  by  Mr. 
Eglinton  is  obvious — from  the  fact  that  I  made  my  selection 
without  looking  at  the  books;  and  that  the  page  and  line  were 
determined  by  chance,  then  and  there,  as  I  have  described. 


Spiritualism  i8i 

But  Mr.  Templeton's  version  of  the  same  incident, 
if  briefer,  is  more  to  the  point. 

From  Mr.  Templeton 

14th  June,  1885 

Next  the  final  and  most  crucial  test  was  proposed  by  Mr. 
Eglinton.  It  had  been  suggested  to  his  own  mind  by  a  former 
test  of  my  own,  in  which  I  had  wished  to  preclude  all  pos- 
sibility of  any  explanation  such  as  thought  transference.  We 
arranged  that  Mr.  Smith  should  turn  to  the  bookshelves  behind 
him,  choose  a  book  at  random,  in  which  we  could  fix  upon  a 
certain  word  in  a  certain  line  of  a  given  page — which  word 
was  to  be  written  for  us.  On  taking  a  book  Mr.  Smith  asked 
Mr.  Eglinton  if  he  knew  what  it  was.  Mr.  Eglinton  answered 
"  Yes,"  and  that  as  it  was  a  rather  trashy  novel  it  might  be 
better  to  choose  another.  Mr.  Smith  then  took  a  small  red- 
covered  book  from  the  opposite  shelf,  and  this  Mr.  Eglinton 
said  he  did  not  recognise.  As  the  theory  of  the  medium's 
mesmeric  influence  over  the  sitters  had  been  more  than  once 
put  before  me  as  a  not  impossible  explanation  I  suggested  we 
should  fix  the  line  by  the  number  of  crayons  in  a  box  before 
us,  which  gave  us  the  i8th  line;  and  in  a  similar  way,  from  a 
separate  heap  of  slate  pencils,  we  obtained  the  number  9  for 
page.     The  last  word  in  the  line  was  chosen. 

Now  from  this  later  version  we  learn  (i)  that  the 
test  was  proposed  by  Eglinton  himself;  (2)  that  the 
book  was  not  chosen  entirely  "  at  haphazard  " ;  it 
was  a  second  choice,  and — a  significant  point — it 
had  a  conspicuous  cover;  (3)  that  the  line  and  page 
were  determined,  not  by  taking  a  handful  of  pencils 
and  crayons  from  larger  heaps,  as  might  have  been 
inferred  from  Mr.  Smith's  account,  but  by  tak- 
ing the  actual  number  of  those  articles  present  on 
the  table.  From  the  first  account  it  might  be  in- 
ferred that   Eglinton's  only  chance  of  meeting  the 


1 82  Spiritualism 

test  would  have  been  by  opening  the  book  then 
and  there  and  writing  the  word.  We  know  from 
other  accounts  that  the  trick  was  occasionally  per- 
formed in  this  way.  But  with  two  not  uncritical 
observers  this  method  may  have  seemed  too  haz- 
ardous. It  seems  probable  that  the  word  had  been 
written  beforehand,  and  that  the  choice  of  book, 
page,  and  line  were  successively  "  forced  "  on  the 
experimenters. 

But  all  that  Hodgson's  analysis  could  in  most 
cases  demonstrate  was  that  the  accounts  of  the  per- 
formance given  even  by  intelligent  witnesses  were 
frequently  inaccurate;  and  that  from  these  inaccu- 
racies it  might  legitimately  be  inferred  that  if  Eg- 
linton  had  practised  trickery,  that  trickery  would  not 
have  been  detected.  To  many  intelligent  persons  this 
method  of  argument  seemed  unsatisfactory.  They 
felt  that  they,  in  witnessing  the  phenomena,  had 
not  been  guilty  of  similar  errors  of  observation,  nor, 
in  recording  them,  of  similar  lapses  of  memory.  It 
was  urged  that  Eglinton  had  abundantly  demon- 
strated his  possession  of  occult  powers  ;  and  that 
trickery,  even  if  the  proof  were  admitted  as  suffi- 
cient, was  only  resorted  to  on  occasions  when  his 
genuine  powers  failed  him.  A  more  conspicuous 
demonstration  of  the  fraudulent  nature  of  the  whole 
performance  was  needed,  and  was  forthcoming. 
One  of  the  Society's  members,  the  late  Mr.  S.  J. 
Davey,  himself  in  the  first  instance  a  victim  of 
Eglinton's  wiles,  ultimately  detected  the  cheat  and 
set  himself  to  imitate  the  performance.     Mr.  Davey 


Spiritualism  183 

placed  his  services  at  the  disposal  of  the  Society 
and  allowed  us  to  introduce  to  him  a  number  of 
sitters,  on  condition  that  they  would  write  a  full 
account  of  what  they  believed  themselves  to  have 
witnessed.  Mr.  Davey  revealed  his  methods  to 
Dr.  Hodgson,  who  arranged  most  of  the  sittings, 
and  was  present  to  watch  the  proceedings.  In 
1892,  after  Mr.  Davey's  death,  he  published  ^  a  full 
explanation  of  the  methods  by  which  Mr.  Davey 
succeeded  in  performing  his  marvels. 

Here  is  an  account,  written  on  the  following  day, 
of  one  of  Davey's  performances,  as  seen  through 
the  eyes  of  an  intelligent  observer.  The  writer  of 
the  account,  Mr.  H.  W.  S.,  was  a  comparative 
stranger  to  Mr.  Davey.  He  had  been  told  before 
the  sitting  that  the  marvels  which  he  was  to  witness 
were  not  attributable  to  "spirits"  or  occult  forces  ; 
and,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel,  he  attempts  to 
explain  them  by  physical  means.  He  was  by  no 
means  therefore  in  the  mood  of  unquestioning  ac- 
ceptance common  to  those  who  visit  spirit  mediums. 
He  knew  that  what  he  was  to  see  was  of  the  nature 
of  a  conjuring  trick. 

Report  of  Mr.  H.  W.  S.' 

February  nth,  1887. 
After  the  very  interesting  scientific  phenomena  to  which  I 
was  an  eye-witness  last  night,  it  gives  me  much  pleasure  to 
detail  the  various  astonishing  feats  displayed  by  Mr.  Davey. 
The  apartment  in  which  I  was  received  was  a  well-stocked 

•  Proceedings,  vol.  viii.,  page  253,  etc. 
^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  468-470. 


i84  Spiritualism 

library,  and  the  furniture,  including  the  table  at  which  we  sat, 
was  of  the  ordinary  make  and  style,  with  none  of  the  intri- 
cacies so  necessary  to  the  every-day  conjurer ;  and  I  am 
convinced  that  the  furniture  of  the  room  and  its  general 
surroundings  played  no  part  whatever  in  the  accomplishment 
of  the  facts  which  I  am  going  to  narrate. 

Having  produced  a  small  book-slate,  Mr.  Davey  asked  me  to 
examine  it,  and  to  satisfy  myself  as  to  its  simplicity  of  con- 
struction, etc.  I  did  so  ;  the  slate  was  composed  of  two  or- 
dinary pieces  of  slate,  about  six  by  four  inches,  mounted  in 
ebony  covers  hinged  on  one  side  with  two  strong  plated  hinges, 
and  closed  in  front,  beyond  the  question  of  a  doubt,  with  a 
Chatwood's  patent  lock. 

With  the  exception  of  a  small  escutcheon,  bearing  the  ini- 
tials of  the  donor,  the  slate  was  plain  and  substantial,  and 
bore  the  strictest  inspection,  so  as  to  entirely  preclude  the 
idea  of  chemicals  or  any  other  similar  agent  being  used  to  it. 

{a)  After  I  had  finished  examining  the  slate,  Mr.  Davey 
asked  me  to  write  in  the  slate  any  question  I  liked  while  he 
was  absent  from  the  room.  Picking  up  a  piece  of  grey  crayon, 
I  wrote  the  following  question  :  "What  is  the  specific  gravity 
of  platinum  ?"  and  then  having  locked  the  slate  and  retained 
the  key,  I  placed  the  former  on  the  table  and  the  latter  in  my 
pocket. 

After  the  lapse  of  a  few  minutes  I  heard  a  distinct  sound  as 
of  writing,  and  on  being  requested  to  unlock  the  slate  I  there 
discovered  to  my  great  surprise  the  answer  of  my  question  : 
**  We  don't  know  the  specific  gravity,  Joey."  The  pencil  with 
which  it  was  written  was  a  little  piece  which  we  had  enclosed, 
and  which  would  just  rattle  between  the  sides  of  the  folded 
slate. 

Having  had  my  hands  on  the  slate  above  the  table,  I  can 
certify  that  the  slate  was  not  touched  or  tampered  with  during 
the  time  the  writing  was  going  on. 

(^b)  Next  ;  having  taken  an  ordinary  scholar's  slate  and 
placed  a  fragment  of  red  crayon  upon  it,  Mr.  Davey  placed  it 
under  the  flap  of  the  table.      I  held  one  side  with  my  hand  as 


Spiritualism  185 

before.  I  then  heard  the  same  sound  as  previously,  and  when 
the  slate  was  placed  on  the  table  I  found  the  following  short 
address  distinctly  written  :  "  Dear  Mr.  S , — The  substitu- 
tion dodge  is  good  ;  the  chemical  is  better,  but  you  see  by  the 
writing  the  spirits  know  a  trick  worth  two  of  that.  This 
medium  is  honest,  and  I  am  the  only  true  Joey."  The  writing 
was  in  red  crayon,  and  was  in  regular  parallel  straight  lines. 

[Another  experiment  with  the  locked  slate  followed  and 
then  the  writer  continues  :] 

(d)  Lastly,  as  requested  by  Mr.  Davey,  I  took  a  coin  from 
my  pocket  without  looking  at  it,  placed  it  in  an  envelope,  and 
sealed  it  up.  I  am  certain  that  neither  Mr.  Davey  nor  myself 
knew  anything  about  the  coin.  I  then  placed  it  in  the  book- 
slate  together  with  a  piece  of  pencil,  closed  it  as  previously, 
and  deposited  it  on  the  table  ;  and  having  placed  my  hands 
with  those  of  Mr.  Davey  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  slate, 
waited  a  short  time.  I  then  unlocked  the  slate  as  requested, 
and  to  my  intense  amazement  I  found  the  date  of  the  coin 
written,  by  the  side  of  the  envelope  containing  it. 

The  seal  and  envelope  (which  I  have  now)  remained  intact. 

This  last  feat  astonished  me  more  than  the  others,  so  utterly 
impossible  and  abnormal  did  it  appear  to  me.  I  may  also 
mention  that  everything  which  was  used,  including  the  cloth 
and  sponge  with  which  the  slates  were  cleansed,  were  eagerly 
and  thoroughly  scrutinised  by  me,  and  I  failed  to  detect  any- 
thing in  the  shape  of  mechanism  of  any  kind.  Were  I  sceptic- 
ally inclined  towards  Spiritualism,  I  should  have  attributed 
the  feats  I  witnessed  to  it,  but  I  am  convinced  from  the  dofia 
fide  manner  in  which  Mr.  Davey  proceeded  to  perform  his 
mysterious  writing,  Spiritualism  plays  no  part  in  it  whatever. 
Were  I  asked  to  account  for  the  method  by  which  the  writing 
was  done,  or  rather  to  advance  any  theory  based  upon  which 
it  would  be  possible  to  produce  such  phenomena,  I  should 
suggest  a  powerful  magnetic  force  used  in  a  double  manner, 
i.e.,  I  St,  the  force  of  attraction,  and  2nd,  that  of  repulsion. 

But  Mr.  Davey  has  by  great  perseverance  and  study  culti- 
vated his  scientific  secret  to  such  an  extent  that  were  it  mag- 


1 86  Spiritualism 

netism,  electricity,  pneumatics,  or  anything  else,  it  would  baffle 
the  most  accomplished  in  any  of  those  branches  of  science  to 
form  even  an  approximate  idea  of  his  modus  operandi. 

Mr.  H.  W.  S.  was  probably  at  least  as  good  an 
observer  as  the  great  majority  of  those  who  have 
testified  to  marvels  performed  by  spirit  mediums. 
And  he  had,  as  we  have  seen,  a  great  advantage 
over  the  ordinary  Spiritualist,  inasmuch  as  he  knew 
that  there  was  nothing  occult  or  inexplicable  in  the 
business.  But  yet  the  performance,  as  described 
by  him,  might  well  seem  to  require  the  aid  of  magic; 
and  indeed  the  distinguished  naturalist.  Dr.  A.  R. 
Wallace,  has  selected  the  events  of  this  seance,  with 
others,  as  being  inexplicable  by  conjuring.  So  they 
are,  if  the  account  quoted  accurately  described  what 
took  place.  But  they  seem  inexplicable  only  be- 
cause the  account  is  highly  condensed,  and  in  the 
process  of  condensation  the  recorder  has  omitted — 
as  Davey  intended  that  he  should  omit — much  that 
would  have  given  a  clue  to  the  deception  practised. 
Thus  in  his  account  of  experiment  {a)  Mr.  H.  W.  S. 
admits  "the  lapse  of  a  few  minutes"  between  his 
placing  the  key  of  the  locked  slate  in  his  pocket 
and  the  sound  of  writing.  He  is  even  so  a  better 
recorder  than  many,  who  would  have  failed  to  re- 
cord the  interval  at  all.  But  he  omits  all  that 
happened  in  that  interval  as  irrelevant.  He  does 
so,  no  doubt,  because  of  two  assumptions,  neither 
of  which  was  justified  :(i)  that  he  had  the  slate  under 
observation  the  whole  time;  (2)  that  the  message 
was  actually  written  at  the  moment  when  the  sound 


spiritualism  187 

as  of  writing  was  heard.  What  actually  happened, 
in  accordance  with  the  methods  revealed  by  Dr. 
Hodgson,  was  somewhat  as  follows  :  Mr.  Davey 
possessed  two  precisely  similar  locked  slates,  with 
common  keys.  Davey  was  out  of  the  room  whilst 
the  sitter  was  writing  his  question  in  slate  A.  On 
his  return  he  diverted  the  sitter's  attention — proba- 
bly by  asking  him  to  examine  the  under  side  of  the 
table — and  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to 
substitute  the  locked  slate  B  for  A.  He  then  gave 
the  sitter  some  ordinary  slates  to  clean  and  examine, 
and  whilst  he  was  thus  occupied,  Davey  left  the 
room  with  A,  opened  it,  and  wrote  the  answer  to 
the  question.  On  his  return  he  found  some  other 
method  of  diverting  the  sitter's  attention,  and  re- 
substituted  A  for  B.  The  sound  of  writing  was 
produced  by  Davey's  finger-nail  scratching  the 
under  surface  of  the  slate,  or  by  some  similar 
device ;  and  the  miracle  was  accomplished. 

It  may  seem  incredible  that  Davey,  who  performed 
this  particular  trick  at  practically  every  seance,  and 
sometimes,  as  in  the  present  case,  twice  at  the  same 
sitting,  should  never  have  incurred  detection,  or 
even  suspicion,  in  the  double  process  of  substitution 
described.  But  in  the  first  place,  he  made  a  prac- 
tice of  carrying  on  the  second  experiment  (^)  whilst 
(a)  was  still  in  progress,  so  that  the  sitter  had  two 
slates  instead  of  one  to  watch ;  and,  further,  he  had 
several  devices  for  distracting  the  sitter's  attention, 
of  which  not  the  least  effective  was  his  conjurer's 
patter.      Davey  allowed  me  to  be  present  at  one  of 


i88  Spiritualism 

the  experiments,  the  victim  being  my  own  brother, 
Mr.  A.  Podmore.  Davey  took  away  the  locked 
double  slate  A,  under  cover  of  a  duster,  whilst  my 
brother  was  watching  the  slates  already  prepared 
for  the  next  experiment.  When  he  effected  the 
resubstitution  of  the  locked  slates,  he  succeeded  in 
completely  diverting  Mr.  A.  Podmore's  attention 
by  means  of  some  weird  narrative  of  marvellous 
events  at  a  previous  sitting.  I  saw  that  my  brother's 
eyes  were  fixed  on  the  narrator's  face  for  the  space 
of  a  minute  or  so.  But  at  the  end  of  the  sitting  my 
brother  was  convinced  that  he  had  not  intermitted 
for  an  instant  his  watching  of  the  locked  slate. 

The  account  above  given,  however,  of  the  sitting 
with  Mr.  H.  W.  S.  is  unduly  simplified.  Miracle ((5), 
as  already  said,  was  actually  in  progress  before  {a), 
was  fulfilled.  The  sitter  had  been  asked  to  clean 
some  slates.  Before  the  sound  of  writing  was  heard 
in  the  locked  slates,  Davey  had  taken  two  of  these 
slates,  together  with  a  third  slate,  not  cleaned  by 
the  sitter,  on  the  under  surface  of  which  the  long 
message  in  red  chalk  had  been  written  before  the 
sitting.  On  the  clean  upper  surface  of  this  prepared 
slate  he  placed  a  fragment  of  red  chalk  and  covered 
it  with  one  of  the  slates  cleaned  by  the  sitter,  and 
left  both  in  full  view  on  the  table.  The  second  of 
the  two  slates  cleaned  by  the  sitter  was  then  placed, 
as  described  in  the  account,  under  the  flap  of  the 
table.  Probably  after  a  short  interval  the  word 
"yes"  was  found  written  on  the  slate  in  answer  to 
some  question  of  sitter  or  medium.     This  "yes" 


spiritualism  i8g 

would  be  written  at  the  time  by  means  of  a  thimble 
pencil.  The  experiment  would  then  be  temporarily 
intermitted,  first  to  allow  of  the  unlocking  of  slate 
A,  secondly  to  allow  of  the  cleaning-  of  that  locked 
slate,  and  the  preparation  of  another  trial  with  the 
same  (the  record  of  this — experiment  c — is  omitted, 
as  containing  no  new  feature).  Whatultimately  hap- 
pened was  that  the  two  slates  on  one  of  which  the 
red  chalk  message  was  already  written  were  placed 
under  the  table,  and  then  by  means  of  substitutions, 
and  reversals  of  position,  the  opportunity  for  which 
was  afforded  by  the  breaks  in  the  experiment,  the 
under  of  these  two  slates  was  eventually  found  to 
contain  on  the  upper  surface  the  message  quoted  in 
the  text. 

The  explanation  of  experiment  {d'),  which  so 
profoundly  puzzled  the  sitter,  was  even  simpler. 
Mr.  Hodgson's  comment  on  the  experiment  is  as 
follows  : 

I  do  not  recall  with  certainty  what  the  coin  was.  Let  us 
suppose  it  was  a  shilling.  Mr,  Davey  beforehand  wrote  the 
date  of  a  shilling  of  his  own  in  locked-slate  A,  placed  this 
shilling  in  an  envelope  and  sealed  it  up,  and  placed  this 
envelope  also  in  locked-slate  A,  which  at  the  beginning  of  the 
experiment  he  had  concealed  about  his  person.  He  then  re- 
quested the  sitter  to  take  a  shilling  from  his  pocket  without 
looking  at  it,  to  place  it  in  an  envelope  and  seal  it  up,  place  it 
in  the  locked-slate  B,  etc.  The  sitting  was  at  Mr.  Davey's 
house,  and  Mr.  Davey  provided  the  envelope,  from  the  same 
packet,  of  course,  as  the  one  already  containing  Mr.  Davey's 
shilling  in  locked-slate  A.  The  sitter  was  requested  not  to 
look  at  his  coin,  ostensibly,  I  believe,  on  the  ground  of  pre- 
cluding thought-transference,  but   really  so    that   the   sitter 


I  go  Spiritualism 

might  not  know  the  difference  between  his  own  coin  and 
Mr.  Davey's.  It  is  now  plain  that  all  the  dexterity  required 
in  this  experiment  was  a  simple  substitution. 

But  the  greatest  marvel  of  all  remains  to  be 
recounted — the  writing  of  a  given  line  on  a  given 
page  of  a  book  selected  from  the  bookcase  by  the 
sitter  himself — an  imitation  of  the  trick  already 
described  as  performed  by  Eglinton.  Here  is  an 
account  of  one  such  experiment.  The  meeting 
was  held  in  the  library  at  Mr.  Davey's  own  house, 
containing  upwards  of  a  thousand  volumes.  There 
were  three  sitters.  One  of  these,  Mr.  Manville, 
describes  this  particular  experiment  as  follows  : 

From  Mr.  E.  Manville  ' 

2d  December,  1886. 

[The  stance  had  taken  place  on  the  previous  evening.] 

{e)  Mr.  Davey  now  said  he  would  endeavour  to  get  a  given 
line  on  a  given  page  of  a  book  written  for  us.  Mr.  Venner 
therefore  looked  over  the  titles  of  the  books  ranged  on  the 
shelves  and  selected  one  me?ilal/y,  without  touching  it  with 
his  hands  ;  at  this  moment  I  suggested  it  would  be  better  if  I 
were  to  select  the  book,  as  I  did  not  know  Mr.  Davey  at  all, 
whilst  Mr.  Venner  did.  Mr.  Davey  acquiesced.  I  selected  a 
title.  In  order  to  decide  what  line  and  page  we  should  select, 
I  took  a  pinch  of  crayons  from  a  box,  Mr.  Pinnock  doing  the 
same.  On  counting,  mine  came  to  6,  Mr.  Pinnock's  to  11. 
Mr.  Venner's  came  to  3.  Mr.  P.  and  I  divided  Mr.  V.'s, 
making  mine  8,  and  Mr.  P.'s  12,  so  we  decided  that  it  should 
be  p.  12,  line  8. 

[The  first  trial  was  a  failure  :  the  word  "  muddle "  was 
written  on  the  slate  held  under  the  table]  and  we  appre- 
hended it  was  on   account  of  Mr.  Venner  and  myself  both 

'^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  455-6. 


Spiritualism  191 

having  chosen  a  book  ;  we  therefore  thought  it  would  be  best 
for  Mr.  Pinnock,  who  knew  Mr.  Davey  no  better  than  I,  to 
select  another  book. 

(/)  This  he  did.  We  washed  the  two  slates,  laid  them 
face  to  face  on  the  table,  when  the  following  words  were 
written  :  "  The  difference  in  this  respect."  Mr.  Pinnock  now 
took  down  the  book  he  had  selected  from  the  shelf,  and 
handed  it  to  me  ;  I  opened  it  at  the  12th  page  and  looked  at 
the  eighth  line.  I  found  the  first  two  words  completed  a  sen- 
tence ;  then  came  the  five  words  above,  and  then  two  more  to 
finish  the  line.  I  said  the  written  words  were  right,  but  not 
complete.  The  slate  was  covered  again,  and  three  more 
words  were  written  :  "  Shakespeare  and  Beaumont,"  On 
looking  at  the  book  I  found  "Shakespeare"  was  the  last 
word  in  the  line,  the  other  two  being  in  the  next  line.  I  said 
a  word  was  still  missed  out.  The  slates  were  put  together 
again,  and  two  more  words  written.  On  looking  at  the  book 
these  turned  out  to  be  the  two  words  terminating  the  last 
sentence.  I  said  there  was  still  the  word  missing,  and  this 
time  the  word  "  between  "  was  written,  making  the  sentence 
complete  :  "  The  difference  in  this  respect  between  Shake- 
speare and  Beaumont."  I  then  asked  for  the  last  word  in  the 
line  by  itself,  and  this  was  written  "  Shakes,"  which  was 
correct,  as  Shakespeare  was  half  on  one  line  and  half  on  the 
other.    The  name  of  the  book  was  Lectures  on  Shakespeare,  etc. 

Mr.  Pinnock  himself  and  Mr.  Venner,  the  other 
witness,  explain  that  the  title  was  chosen  mentally, 
the  book  not  being  removed  from  the  shelves. 

Mr.  Davey  tried  several  experiments  of  the  kind. 
The  method  of  procedure  was  to  write  down  the 
passage  beforehand  on  a  slate  which  could  be  sub- 
sequently introduced  by  substitution.  The  real 
difficulty,  of  course,  was  to  induce  the  sitters  to 
select  the  book  which  Mr.  Davey  had  predestined 


192  Spiritualism 

for  the  purpose  of  the  experiment,  and  when  the 
book  had  been  selected  in  accordance  with  his 
wishes  to  determine  also  their  choice  of  page  and 
line.  The  book  was  "forced"  upon  the  sitters' 
choice.  Mr.  Davey  generally  fixed  upon  a  bright 
coloured  volume,  or  one  likely  to  be  otherwise  at- 
tractive, and  placed  it  on  the  shelf  most  likely  to 
meet  the  eye,  ranging  on  either  side  of  it  some  dull 
and  inconspicuous  volumes.  I  have  watched  him 
arrange  books  in  my  own  bookshelves  for  the  pur- 
pose. As  in  the  present  case,  the  experiment  fre- 
quently failed  on  the  first  attempt.  Sometimes 
Mr.  Davey  would  himself  reject  the  sitters'  first 
choice,  on  the  ground  that  the  print  was  too  small, 
or  the  subject-matter  unsuitable.  But  it  is  sur- 
prising how  often  he  succeeded  in  forcing  the  right 
book,  at  least  on  the  second  or  third  attempt.  To 
secure  a  reasonable  chance  of  coincidence  in  line 
and  page  he  generally  requested  the  sitters  to 
choose  numbers  under  lo,  and  his  experience  in 
number  habits  led  him  in  many  cases  correctly  to 
anticipate  their  choice.  In  the  instance  quoted, 
however,  he  resorts  to  another  device.  From  Mr. 
Manville's  account  it  would  appear  as  if  the  division 
of  the  crayons  had  been  a  spontaneous  move  on 
the  part  of  the  sitters.  But  Mr.  Venner  in  his 
report  of  the  sitting  tells  us  : 

The  medium  requested  each  of  us  to  take  a  small  handful 
of  chalks  out  of  the  box  on  the  table.  Mr.  P.  took  ii,  Mr, 
M.  six,  and  I  three.  The  medium  divided  the  three  chalks  I 
had   selected   between   the   other  two.     We   had   previously 


Spiritualism  193 

agreed  that  Mr.  P.'s  number  should  represent  a  page,  and 
Mr.  M.'s  number  a  line,  of  some  book  to  be  chosen  mentally 
by  one  of  the  party,  the  medium  promising  to  endeavour  to 
reproduce  on  the  slate  the  line  so  determined.  In  the  present 
case  it  was  of  course  the  eighth  line  of  the  12th  page. 

The  sitting,  it  will  be  remembered,  took  place  in 
Davey's  own  house.  He  had  no  doubt  left  exactly 
20  pieces  of  crayon  in  the  box,  and  by  the  method 
adopted  of  dividing  the  third  lot  of  crayons  there 
was  little  difficulty  in  arriving  at  the  numbers 
already  selected — 8  and  12. 

Dr.  Hodgson's  careful  analysis  of  the  accounts 
of  Eglinton's  miracles,  and  the  skilful  counterfeits 
— more  skilful  frequently  than  their  originals — pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Davey,  must  convince  the  dispas- 
sionate enquirer  of  the  radical  untrustworthiness 
alike  of  the  senses  and  of  the  memory  in  matters  of 
this  kind.  And  this  may  almost  be  called  a  new 
discovery.  The  biologist,  the  astronomer,  the 
physicist  have,  of  course,  learnt,  each  in  his  own 
department,  the  limitations  of  the  senses,  their  nar- 
row range,  their  fallibility,  their  habitual  inaccuracy. 
But  these  defects  are  fairly  constant,  and  when  once 
ascertained  can  be  guarded  against  or  supplemented 
by  the  use  of  appropriate  instruments  and  by  allow- 
ance for  the  personal  equation  of  the  observer. 
But  no  training  in  the  laboratory  will  do  much  to 
make  a  man  a  better  observer  at  a  Spiritualist 
seance.  What  is  required  in  such  circumstances 
is  a  power  of  observation  which  is  able  to  resist  the 
artifices  employed  to  distract  it,  and  which,  if  not 


194  Spiritualism 

actually  unremitting — since  it  would  seem  that 
nature  itself  forbids  that, — is  at  least  alive  to  its 
own  lapses.  And  a  power  of  observation  of  this 
kind  is  not  demanded  and  is  not  exercised  in  the 
laboratory,  and  cannot  be  acquired  except  by 
training  of  a  very  special  kind. 

But  in  dealing  with  the  phenomena  presented  by 
Spiritualist  mediums,  even  errors  of  perception  are 
often  of  less  importance  than  errors  of  memory. 
The  record  of  any  event,  or  series  of  events,  pre- 
served in  our  memory  is  in  no  case  comparable  to  a 
photograph.  It  is  more  like  a  picture  or  even  a  map. 
It  is  a  selection,  a  work  of  art ;  and  unfortunately 
in  the  present  case  the  principle  of  selection,  the 
sesthetic  guidance,  are  supplied  by  the  medium. 
In  Dr.  Hodgson's  words  : 

The  source  of  error  which  I  desire  in  particular  to  press 
upon  the  reader's  notice  is  the  perishability,  the  exceeding 
transience,  the  fading  feebleness,  the  evanescence  beyond  re- 
call, of  certain  impressions  which  nevertheless  did  enter  the 
domain  of  consciousness,  and  did  in  their  place  form  part  of 
the  stream  of  impetuous  waking  thought. 

It  is,  moreover,  not  simply  and  merely  that  many  events, 
which  did  obtain  at  the  sitting  some  share  of  perception,  thus 
lapse  completely  from  the  realm  of  ordinary  recollection.  The 
consequence  may  indeed  be  that  we  meet  with  a  blank  or  a 
chaos  in  traversing  the  particular  field  of  remembrance  from 
which  the  events  have  lapsed  ;  but  this  will  often  be  filled 
with  some  conjectured  events  which  rapidly  become  attached 
to  the  adjacent  parts,  and  form,  in  conjunction  with  them,  a 
consolidated  but  fallacious  fragment  in  memory.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  consequence  may  be  that  the  edges  of  the  lacunce 
close  up — events  originally  separated  by  a  considerable  inter- 


spiritualism  195 

val   are  now  remembered  vividly  in  immediate  juxtaposition, 
and  there  is  no  trace  of  the  piecing.' 

As  a  result  mainly  of  the  researches  carried  on 
by  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  Dr.  Richard  Hodgson,  and  S.  J. 
Davey,  the  investigators  of  the  Society  have  come 
to  adopt  as  a  working  formula  that  no  evidence 
for  the  physical  phenomena  of  Spiritualism  can  be 
regarded  as  of  permanent  value  which  depends 
for  its  validity  upon  the  exercise  of  continuous 
observation. 

Applying  this  test  to  the  evidences  for  the 
physical  phenomena  of  Spiritualism,  we  shall  find 
them  all  wanting.  Again  and  again  the  proof  has 
seemed  all  but  complete  ;  and  always,  as  the  con- 
ditions have  been  perfected  so  as  to  close  up  the  last 
loophole  for  fraud — always  the  **  spirits  "  have  re- 
fused to  do  their  part.  In  all  these  years  there  is 
no  record  of  which  we  can  say,  "  Either  the  thing 
happened  so,  or  the  investigators  have  lied." 

A  field  for  the  application  of  this  formula  can  be 
found  in  the  investigations  which  are  still  proceed- 
ing on  the  Continent  into  the  physical  phenomena 
occurring  in  the  presence  of  the  Italian  medium, 
Eusapia  Paladino.  Eusapia  has  practised  as  a 
medium  for  many  years ;  but  the  phenomena  pro- 
duced through  her  agency  first  attracted  general 
attention  in  1893.  In  the  previous  year  a  com- 
mittee, including  many  persons  of  distinction,  Pro- 
fessor Brofferio,  M.  Schiaparelli,  Director  of  the 
Astronomical    Observatory    in    Milan,     Professor 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  386,  387. 


196  Spiritualism 

Lombroso,  Professor  C.  Richet,  etc.,  had  held 
some  sittings  with  her  at  Milan.  In  their  reports, 
printed  early  in  1893,  they  expressed  their  convic- 
tion that  some  of  the  things  witnessed  could  not 
be  attributed  to  normal  agency.  Professor  Richet, 
however,  though  attaching  great  weight  to  the 
phenomena  which  he  had  observed,  was  of  opinion 
that  complete  proof  of  abnormal  agency  was  want- 
ing. In  particular,  M.  Richet  considered  that  the 
manner  in  which  Eusapia's  hands  were  held  during 
the  dark  seances  was  suspicious.     He  writes  : 

During  the  experiments,  Eusapia  generally  has  the  right 
and  left  hand  held  differently  ;  on  one  side  her  whole  hand 
is  firmly  held  ;  on  the  other  side,  instead  of  having  her  hand 
held  by  the  person  next  her,  she  merely  places  her  hand  on 
his,  but  touches  his  hand  with  all  five  fingers,  so  that  he  can 
feel  quite  distinctly  whether  it  is  the  right  or  the  left  hand 
with  which  he  is  in  contact. 

This  is  what  follows  :  at  the  moment  when  the  manifesta- 
tions are  about  to  begin,  the  hand  which  is  not  being  held, 
but  which  is  lightly  placed  on  the  hand  of  the  person  on  that 
side  (for  the  sake  of  simplicity  we  will  suppose  that  it  is  Eusa- 
pia's right  hand,  though  it  is  in  fact  sometimes  the  right, 
sometimes  the  left), — the  right  hand,  then,  becomes  very  un- 
steady, and  begins  to  move  about  so  rapidly  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  follow  its  movements  :  it  shifts  about  every  moment, 
and  for  the  mere  fraction  of  a  second  it  is  not  felt  at  all ;  then 
it  is  felt  again,  and  one  could  swear  that  it  is  the  right  hand.' 
In  the  summer  of  1894,  Professor  Richet  invited 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  Dr. 
Ochorowicz,  and  one  or  two  others,  to  join  him  in 

•  Afinales  des  Sciences  Psychiques,  January-February,  1893.  See  also  a 
criticism  of  the  articles  in  the  Annales,  by  the  present  writer,  in  Proceed- 
ings, S.  P,  R.,  vol.  ix,,  pp.  218-225. 


Spiritualism  197 

investigating  the  powers  claimed  by  Eusapia  Pala- 
dino.  The  phenomena  observed,  when  Eusapia's 
hands  and  feet  were  believed  to  be  secured,  and 
other  precautions  had  been  taken  to  prevent  phy- 
sical intervention  on  her  part,  consisted  mainly  of 
the  movements  of  articles  of  furniture  at  a  certain 
distance  from  the  circle ;  the  lifting  of  a  heavy 
table  from  the  ground ;  the  movement  of  smaller 
objects  from  one  part  of  the  room  to  another ;  the 
sounding  of  notes  on  musical  instruments ;  and 
grasps  and  touches  felt  by  the  experimenters  on 
various  parts  of  their  persons.  The  seances  for  the 
most  part  took  place  in  a  very  subdued  light,  so 
that  the  proof  of  Eusapia's  non-intervention  rested 
mainly,  though  not  entirely,  on  the  secure  holding 
of  her  hands.  Nevertheless,  the  phenomena  were 
so  impressive  that  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  and  others 
expressed  the  conviction  that  some  of  the  things 
observed  could  not  be  accounted  for  by  any  known 
agency. 

When,  however,  accounts  of  these  experiments 
and  of  the  conclusions  arrived  at  were  printed  in 
the  Journal  of  the  Society,  Dr.  Hodgson  immedi- 
ately challenged  the  accuracy  of  the  observations, 
mainly  on  the  ground  that  it  did  not  appear  that 
Eusapia's  hands  and  feet  had  been  held  in  such  a 
way  as  to  make  fraud  impossible.  Finally,  in  the 
summer  of  1895,  another  series  of  sittings  was  held 
with  Eusapia  in  this  country.  Very  early  in  the 
series  suspicious  movements  on  the  medium's  part 
were  observed.    Later,  Dr.  Hodgson  himself  joined 


198  Spiritualism 

the  circle ;  and  it  was  conclusively  shown  that 
Eusapia  was  availing  herself  of  the  peculiar  method 
of  "holding"  previously  described  by  Professor 
Richet  to  get  one  hand  free,  and  then  execute  the 
movements  observed.  Briefly,  her  method  is  to 
begin  by  allowing  one  hand  to  be  firmly  held  by 
the  sitter  on  one  side  (say  the  left),  and  to  let  the 
fingers  of  the  other,  the  right  hand,  rest  on  the 
hand  of  the  sitter  on  the  other  side.  Then,  in 
the  course  of  the  rapid  spasmodic  movements  re- 
ferred to  by  Professor  Richet,  she  approximates 
the  hands  of  the  sitters  on  either  side  of  her,  until 
they  are  so  near  together  that  one  of  Eusapia's 
hands  (the  left)  will  do  duty  for  two — being 
grasped  by  one  of  the  sitters'  hands  and  resting  its 
fingers  on  the  hand  of  the  other  sitter.  The  de- 
sired "  phenomenon "  is  then  brought  about,  and 
the  right  hand  restored  to  its  former  position. 
Other  devices  of  a  similar  kind  were  observed  or 
inferred ;  and  probably  there  are  yet  others  which 
have  escaped  detection. 

Dr.  Hodgson's  conclusion  that  all  the  physical 
phenomena  produced  in  Eusapia's  presence  from 
first  to  last  were  due  to  fraud,  was  at  the  time 
shared  by  most  of  the  leading  investigators  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research.  In  1898,  however, 
there  were  held  in  Paris  some  strikingly  successful 
seances,  at  which  Professor  Richet  and  the  late  F. 
W.  H.  Myers  were  present,  and  subsequently  these 
two  gentlemen  and  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  took  occasion 
to  reafifirm  their  belief  in  the  genuineness  of  some 


Spiritualism  199 

at  least  of  the  physical  manifestations  occurring  in 
the  presence  of  Eusapia  Paladino.^  Within  the 
last  few  years  several  well-known  Italian  men  of 
science,  including  some  who,  like  Professor  Mor- 
selli,  had  for  long  proclaimed  their  disbelief  in  the 
subject,  have  investigated  and  declared  their  con- 
viction of  the  genuineness  of  some  of  the  phe- 
nomena occurring  in  the  presence  of  Eusapia.  It 
is  generally  admitted,  however,  that  Eusapia  will 
use  physical  means  when  the  conditions  permit  of 
her  doing  so  ;  and  that  the  phenomena  recognised 
as  genuine  give  little  support  to  the  hypothesis  of 
spirit  intervention.  If  not  wholly  due  to  fraud  and 
illusion,  they  can  best  be  attributed  to  the  opera- 
tion of  some  force  emanating  from  the  medium's 
organism.  The  description  of  the  feats  witnessed, 
in  fact,  strongly  suggests  that  the  medium  has  the 
power  of  extruding  false  limbs — "  pseudopodia  " — 
from  her  person,  or  is  possessed  of  some  force 
(ectenic  force)  capable  of  acting  on  material  ob- 
jects at  a  short  distance  beyond  the  limits  of  her 
material  organism. 

The  difficulty  in  accepting  the  accounts  given 
lies  precisely  in  the  fact  that  the  distance  is  so 
short.  The  objects  moved  are  all  situated  within 
the  near  neighbourhood  of  Eusapia ;  the  proof  that 
she  did  not  move  them  by  normal  means  depends, 
as  before,  chiefly  on  the  secure  holding — or,  more 
rarely,  binding — of  the  medium's  limbs  and  on  the 
accuracy  of  the  experimenters'  observation.     The 

■  yournal,  S.  P.  R.,  March,  1899,  pp.  34,  35. 


200  Spiritualism 

medium  exhibits  a  persistent  aversion  to  the  use  of 
recording  apparatus :  she  disHkes  smoked  paper 
(for  taking  impressions  of  finger  prints,  etc.)  ;  at 
one  seance  it  is  recorded  that  she  fought  hard — and 
even  bit — to  prevent  the  use  of  a  photographic 
plate.^  Even  more  significant  is  her  treatment  of 
two  tests  recently  devised  by  a  circle  of  Italian 
medical  men.  At  the  first  sitting  a  clockwork 
cylinder,  covered  with  blackened  paper,  was  placed 
inside  a  bell-glass,  secured  from  interference  by 
sealed  tapes.  The  object  of  the  test  was  to  obtain 
a  vertical  mark  on  the  cylinder ;  and  the  key  of  the 
electric  circuit  through  which  this  end  could  be 
accomplished  was  enclosed  in  a  securely  fastened 
and  sealed  cardboard  box.  In  the  event  the  sealed 
tapes  were  torn  off  from  the  bell-glass ;  the  lid  of 
the  cardboard  box  was  forcibly  removed,  and  the 
key  then  depressed.  The  test  was  thus  rendered 
useless.  Eusapia  explained,  however,  that  if  woven 
material  instead  of  cardboard  had  been  used  to  pro- 
tect the  key,  it  could  have  been  moved  without 
interference  with  the  apparatus.  Acting  on  the 
hint  the  experimenters  prepared  for  the  next  seance 
a  new  apparatus.  Inside  the  cabinet  was  placed  a 
manometer — an  open  tube  of  mercury  with  a  float- 
ing pointer  which  would  automatically  register  any 
movements  of  the  mercury  on  a  scale.  The  tube 
was  in  connection  with  a  vessel  full  of  water,  and 
closed  with   a  rubber  capsule.      Pressure  on  the 

'  She  has  allowed  some  photographs  to  be  taken,  but  none  that  I  have 
seen  add  materially  to  the  strength  of  the  evidence. 


spiritualism  201 

capsule  would,  of  course,  force  up  the  mercury  in 
the  tube.  The  vessel  of  water  was  enclosed  in  a 
wooden  box,  the  side  of  which  rose  high  above  the 
capsule.  The  top  of  the  capsule  was  blackened. 
In  place  of  a  lid  the  box  was  covered  with  cloth,  so 
as  to  prevent  pressure  on  the  capsule  by  normal 
means.  At  the  close  of  the  seance  the  mercury 
was  found  to  have  risen  ;  but  the  cloth  covering 
was  torn.  The  experimenters  still  attach  weight 
to  the  result  of  the  experiment,  on  the  ground  that 
the  wooden  box  was  outside  the  cabinet,  so  that  no 
one  could  have  approached  it  without  being  seen. 
They  add  :  "  We  do  not  know  why  the  stuff  which 
had  covered  the  wooden  box  was  torn.  Certainly 
Eusapia  did  not  understand  the  Importance  which 
would  have  attached  to  the  experiment,  If  It  had 
remained  Intact."  ^ 

It  cannot  be  said  that  these  recent  researches  have 
done  much  to  strengthen  the  case  for  Eusapla's 
genuineness.  The  phenomena  are  still  of  the  same 
Indeterminate  kind  ;  they  take  place  still  under  the 
same  dubious  conditions ;  and  for  their  substanti- 
ation we  still  have  to  trust  entirely  to  the  accurate 
observation  of  the  witnesses,  working  under  con- 
ditions not  of  their  own  choosing.  Sometimes,  as 
above  Indicated,  the  circumstances  attaching  to  the 
feats  are  in  themselves  extremely  suspicious.  But 
if  we  can  attach  little  weight  to  the  records,  It  is 
Impossible  not  to  be  Impressed  by  the  scientific 
standing  and  the  obvious  sincerity  of  the  witnesses. 

^  Annals  of  Psychical  Science,  May,  1907,  p.  385. 


202  Spiritualism 

Professor  Richet,  Dr.  Maxwell,  Professor  MorselH, 
Professor  Foa,  and  other  Italian  savants  have  no 
manner  of  doubt  that  they  have  witnessed  in 
Eusapia's  presence  phenomena  inexplicable  by  any 
known  force.  If  they  do  not  enable  us  to  share 
their  conviction,  they  at  any  rate  compel  us  to  hold 
our  judgment  in  suspense.  There  is  at  any  rate  a 
problem  here,  for  the  solution  of  which  we  must 
wait.  If  the  things  are  genuine,  we  want  to  know 
how  they  are  done  ;  if  fraudulent,  how  it  is  that  so 
many  competent  observers  have  come  to  believe  in 
their  genuineness. 


CHAPTER  IX 

ON    COMMUNICATION    WITH    THE    DEAD 

OO  far  the  work  of  naturalisation  has  proceeded 
^  with  smoothness  :  if  we  have  seen  reason  to  re- 
ject any  appHcants  for  admission  it  is  on  the  ground 
that  their  credentials  are  unsatisfactory,  not  because 
they  lie  under  any  suspicion  of  an  alien  allegiance. 
If  the  facts  of  telepathy  are  admitted  it  does  not 
yet  appear  that  they  carry  us  beyond  the  material 
world,  the  world  which  includes  alike  neural  pro- 
cesses and  ethereal  undulations.  The  same  may 
be  said,  with  perhaps  some  reservations,  of  the 
alleged  physical  phenomena  of  the  seance  room. 
The  exhibitions  of  materialisation,  spirit  photo- 
graphy, and  slate-writing  which  found  favour  a  gen- 
eration ago  have  received  no  scientific  endorsement 
of  late  years,  and  are  now  so  generally  discredited 
that  they  need  scarcely  be  considered  seriously. 
The  manifestations  which  remain,  such  as  raps, 
movements,  and  touches, — even  if  their  occurrence 
apart  from  fraud  should  be  incontrovertibly  estab- 
lished,— would  not  necessarily  involve  the  assump- 
tion of  the  agency  of  any  "spirit"  other  than  that 
of  the  medium  herself.  As  already  said,  the  phe- 
nomena, especially  as  observed  in  the  presence  of 
Eusapia    Paladino,   have  led  recent  Italian  experi- 


204    On  Communication  with  the  Dead 

menters  to  revive  the  theory,  originally  put  forward 
half  a  century  ago  by  Thury  and  de  Gasparin,  of  a 
force  emanating  from  the  organism  of  the  medium, 
and  controlled  presumably  by  her  nervous  system. 
If  such  a  force  should  be  proved  to  exist,  it  will 
afford  material  for  the  physicist  and  the  physiologist, 
and  will  no  doubt  considerably  enlarge  our  concep- 
tion of  the  potencies  of  living  bodies.  But  it  was 
not  for  this  that  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research 
was  founded.  The  distinguished  men  who  in  1882 
associated  themselves  in  the  venture  were  certainly 
not  attracted  merely  by  the  prospect  of  enlarging 
the  domain  of  physics  or  biology.  They  came 
together  in  the  hope  of  finding  empirical  proof  of 
the  survival  of  the  soul  after  the  death  of  the  body. 
No  one  who  has  read  Myers's  brief  autobiography, 
or  the  Memoir  of  Henry  Sidgwick,  can  doubt  that 
it  was  this  hope  which  formed  the  motive  power. 
But  it  is  when  we  approach  this  subject  that  the 
real  difficulties  of  psychical  research  begin.  We 
are  menaced  with  opposition  from  without  and 
danger  from  within.  The  opposition  comes  prin- 
cipally from  two  quarters.  There  are  those  who 
feel  that  the  very  quest  involves  a  kind  of  impiety ; 
that  the  Ruler  of  the  world  has  fixed  a  gulf  between 
shore  and  shore,  so  that  no  communication  may 
pass  from  that  side  to  this. 

Nequidquam  Deus  abscidit 

Prudens  Oceano  dissociabili 
Terras,  si  tamen  impise 

Non  tangenda  rates  transiliunt  vada. 


On  Communication  with  the  Dead     205 

The  attitude  here  indicated  is  as  old  as  human 
history.  It  was  old  enough  for  Horace  to  treat  it 
half  in  jest.  It  has  been  displayed  at  every  step  in 
human  progress.  There  are  many  of  the  faithful 
now  who  would  in  their  hearts  join  with  Imaum 
Ali  Zadi  in  placing  all  human  knowledge  under  the 
ban.  Said  the  pious  Cadi,  in  refusing  an  English 
traveller's  request  for  statistical  information,  "  God 
created  the  world,  and  shall  we  liken  ourselves 
unto  him  in  seeking  to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of 
his  creation?  Shall  we  say,  behold  this  star  spin- 
neth  round  that  star,  and  this  other  star  with  a 
tail  goeth  and  cometh  in  so  many  years  ?  Let  it 
go  !  He  from  whose  hand  it  came  will  guide  and 
direct  it."  ^ 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  have  not  the 
assurance  of  faith  are  mostly  indifferent — an  Indif- 
ference which  occasionally  merges  into  active  hos- 
tility— to  any  attempt  to  solve  the  problem.^  Of 
this  indifference  there  are  no  doubt  many  causes. 
But  there  are  two  that  specially  concern  us.  In  the 
first  place,  the  many  are  indifferent  because  they 
have  no  hope  of  any  result  from  such  an  enquiry. 
The  problem  is  as  old  as  the  world  ;  but  apart  from 
the  claims  of  revelation,  there  is  nowhere  any  hint 
of  a  solution.  But  to  this  it  may  be  answered  that 
there  has  never  yet  been  any  serious  attempt  to  find 

'  From  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  quoted  by  W.  James,  Principles 
of  Psychology,  vol.  ii.,  p.  641,  note. 

■■^  See  Mr.  Schiller's  article  {Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xviii.,  p.  416)  on  the 
result  of  a  recent  American  questionnaire  as  to  the  desire  for  knowledge  of  a 
future  life. 


2o6    On  Communication  with  the  Dead 

the  solution — at  least  no  serious  attempt  by  modern 
investigators,  armed  with  the  latest  weapons  from 
the  scientific  armoury.  It  is  a  vicious  circle  :  there 
is  no  effective  desire  because  men  have  despaired  of 
success  :  and  success  will  only  come,  in  this  as  in 
any  other  quest,  to  men  whom  the  desire  of  know- 
ledge urges  to  eager  and  persistent  endeavour.  But 
there  are  indications  now  that  the  question  is  being 
asked  more  methodically  and  with  more  persever- 
ence  than  ever  before.  Ten  years  before  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  Henry 
Sidgwick  wrote :  "  I  sometimes  feel  with  some- 
what of  a  profound  hope  and  enthusiasm  that  the 
function  of  the  English  mind,  with  its  uncompro- 
mising matter-of-fact-ness,  will  be  to  put  the  final 
question  to  the  Universe  with  a  solid,  passionate 
determination  to  be  answered  which  must  come  to 
something."^  And  since  those  words  were  written, 
the  enquiry  has  been  steadily  pursued  and  is  still 
proceeding. 

But  the  indifference  of  the  many  is  also  no  doubt 
partly  due  to  distrust  of  the  methods  of  the  enquiry, 
and  of  the  temper  of  the  investigators.  It  has  been 
pointed  out  in  the  introductory  chapter  that  in  the 
early  years  of  the  Society  the  appreciation  of  the 
evidence  was  a  joint  work.  Further,  the  lines  of 
work  were  laid  down  by  the  advice  and  pursued 
under  the  personal  direction  of  Henry  Sidgwick. 
His  wisdom,  his  clear  insight,  the  essential  sanity 
of  his  mind  withheld  us  from  rash  and  premature 

'  Memoir,  p.  259. 


On  Communication  with  the  Dead     207 

conclusions.  Of  late  years  individual  investigators 
have  pursued  their  separate  lines  of  research ;  and  it 
may  be  thought  that  the  will  to  live,  which  was  so 
dominating  an  element  in  the  personality  of  F.  W. 
H.  Myers  and  of  Richard  Hodgson,  may  unawares 
have  influenced  their  judgment  and  so  have  led 
them  too  hastily  to  exchange  the  role  of  investi- 
gator for  that  of  propagandist.  This,  in  short,  is 
the  danger  from  within  which  must  always  attend 
upon  any  enquiry  making  so  intimate  and  irresist- 
ible an  appeal  to  human  hopes  and  affections. 

A  word  of  caution  is  perhaps  necessary  as  regards 
the  kind  of  spirit  communication  to  which  the  facts 
to  be  cited  in  the  follovv^ng  chapters  seem  to  point. 
If  such  communication  is  at  all  possible,  it  would 
seem  that  it  is  of  rare  occurrence  and  beset  with 
considerable  difficulties ;  and  further  that  the  com- 
munications themselves  are  liable  to  be  embar- 
rassed, incoherent,  and  curiously  defective,  if  not 
actually  evasive.  Not  only  do  these  characteristics 
of  the  communications,  which  are  to  be  found  es- 
pecially in  the  trance  utterances  discussed  in  Chap- 
ter XIII.,  necessarily  make  the  desired  proof  much 
more  difficult  of  attainment,  but  they  inevitably 
suggest  suspicions  of  their  mundane  source.  Dr. 
Hodgson  was  himself  satisfied,  after  an  exhaustive 
study  of  the  trance  phenomena,  that  these  sus- 
picious characteristics  were  not  inconsistent  with  the 
Spiritualist  interpretation  ;  and  that  in  many  cases 
they  even  lend  additional  support  to  that  hypothe- 
sis; and,  speaking  generally,  those  investigators  who 


2o8    On  Communication  with  the  Dead 

of  recent  years  have  given  the  closest  study  to  the 
case  of  Mrs.  Piper  and  other  automatists  have  been 
led  to  attach  increasing  weight  to  the  hypothesis  of 
some  form  of  spirit  communication.  In  any  case 
we  have  clearly  no  right  to  lay  down  a  priori  the 
standard  to  which  spirit  communications  should 
conform.  Mr.  Schiller  has  some  pertinent  remarks 
on  the  characteristic  defects  and  incoherences  of 
these  trance  communications:  "That  spirit  com- 
munication should  be  difficult,"  he  says,  "  is  what  I 
should  have  inferred  on  physical  grounds,  that  it 
should  be  rare  and  exhibit  a  gradtial  diminution  of 
hiterest  hi  and  memory  of  our  concerns  is  precisely 
what  I  should  have  inferred  on  the  supposition  that 
the  human  personality  takes  its  known  psychologi- 
cal constitution  with  it.  The  wonder  is  rather  that 
the  deceased  should  trouble  themselves  at  all  about 
us  and  have  leisure  to  devise  means  of  communica- 
tion with  the  world  they  have  left.  For  if  we  are 
to  conceive  them  as  surviving  death  at  all,  it  must 
be  as  ipso  facto  entering  into  a  new  and  engrossing 
phase  of  existence  (all  the  more  engrossing  because 
of  its  novelty)  and  as  needing  to  adapt  themselves 
to  new  conditions  of  existence.  And  it  is  not  un- 
reasonable to  suppose  that  even  if  they  could  effec- 
tively desire  to  communicate  they  might  not  find 
the  means  available.  Hence  there  need  be  no  trace 
of  cynicism  in  the  suggestion  that  probably  the 
dead  forget  the  living  far  more  rapidly  even  than 
the  living  forget  the  dead  :  it  merely  expresses  a 
psychological   necessity.      We  forget  because  life 


On  Communication  with  the  Dead     209 

absorbs  our  energies  and  robs  us  of  the  leisure  to 
remember ;  the  departed,  if  they  survive,  must  for- 
get, because  a  new  life  must  absorb  their  energies 
and  cut  off  their  associations  with  the  past  to  an 
indefinitely  greater  degree.  Is  there  not,  there- 
fore, more  than  a  touch  of  human  conceit  in  the 
imagination  which  depicts  the  spirits  of  the  dead  as 
having  no  other  function  than  to  hover  invisibly 
around  the  living  as  futile  spectators  of  the  follies 
and  the  crimes  of  earth  ?  Nay,  will  not  the  notion 
appear  grotesque  as  soon  as  we  take  up  a  less  geo- 
centric position  in  our  eschatology  and  look  at  the 
matter  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  *  dead'  ?"^ 

It  is  perhaps  hardly  necessary  to  claim  that  the 
possibility  of  such  communication  is  still  an  open 
question.  The  possibility  has  no  doubt  been  denied. 
"  The  question  is  .  .  .  whether  departed  spirits 
enter  into  communication  with  living  men  by 
mediums  and  by  incarnation.  The  scientist  does 
not  admit  a  compromise ;  with  regard  to  this  he 
flatly  denies  the  possibility  .  .  .  the  facts  as  they 
are  claimed  do  not  exist,  and  never  will  exist."  ^  But 
for  most  men,  whether  they  claim  the  title  of 
philosopher  or  no,  the  possibility  of  anything  can 
only  be  proved  by  experience,  and  until  experi- 
ence furnishes  adequate  material,  the  only  prudent 
course  is  suspension  of  judgment.  The  philosopher 
who,  antecedently  to  experience,  should  venture 
to  pronounce  the  word  "  impossible,"  even  in  the 

\  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  July,  1898,  pp.  276,  277. 
^Munsterberg,  Psychology  and  Life,  p.  252. 


2IO    On  Communication  with  the  Dead 

region  of  pure  mathematics,  would  write  himself 
down  belated.  But  if  we  admit  that  experience  only 
can  prove  or  disprove  the  possibility,  we  must  fur- 
ther recognise  that  the  proof  which  we  are  seek- 
ing is  not  likely  to  be  salient  or  irresistible.  We 
can  hardly  imagine  any  single  incident  which  would 
give  us  satisfactory  proof  of  the  survival  of  a  human 
personality.  The  proof,  or  disproof,  must  be  in  its 
nature  cumulative.  At  a  certain  stage  of  the  ac- 
cumulation we  may  say,  "  The  facts  are,  no  doubt, 
not  inconsistent  with  the  hypothesis  of  the  agency 
of  the  dead  ;  but  there  are  other  interpretations  in 
the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  equally  adequate 
and  at  least  equally  probable."  That  is  the  stage  at 
which  our  enquiry  would  seem  now  to  have  arrived. 
We  have  accumulated  a  large  number  of  observa- 
tions and  experiments,  open  to  various  interpreta- 
tions, but  open  amongst  others  to  this  particular 
interpretation,  that  they  indicate  in  some  fashion 
the  presence  of  "dead"  men  and  women.  The 
man  who  at  the  present  stage  of  the  enquiry  invites 
us,  on  the  strength — or  weakness — of  the  evidence 
so  far  available,  to  acclaim  the  proof  of  human  im- 
mortality, may  be  doing  serious  injury  to  his  own 
cause.  But  the  other  man  who,  because  our  present 
ignorance  does  not  enable  us  to  decide  what  is  the 
true  meaning  of  these  elusive  "  seemings,"  condemns 
the  whole  enquiry  as  abortive,  has  surely  no  title  to 
speak  in  the  name  of  Science. 

In  the  chapters  which  follow  I  shall  aim  at  pre- 
senting fair  samples  of  the  evidences  which  have 


On  Communication  with  the  Dead     211 

been  or  may  be  held  to  point  to  the  agency  of  the 
dead,  and  to  appreciate,  as  impartially  as  I  can,  their 
present  value  and  significance.  The  enquiry  is  still 
proceeding,  and,  by  the  consent  of  all  who  are  en- 
gaged in  it,  the  evidence  for  any  certain  conclusion, 
positive  or  negative,  is  still  insufficient. 


CHAPTER  X 

PHANTASMS    OF    THE    DEAD 

IN  the  next  two  chapters  it  is  proposed  to  pass  in 
review  those  spontaneous  apparitions — "ghosts" 
warning  dreams,  haunted  houses — which  have  been 
held  in  all  ages  to  indicate  the  presence  of  the  dead. 
We  have  already  in  previous  chapters  considered 
some  instances  in  which  the  apparition  approx- 
imately coincided  with  the  death  of  the  person 
represented,  and  have  seen  that  in  such  a  case  the 
vision  may  reasonably  be  interpreted  as  originating 
in  the  mind  of  a  still  living  agent.  Further  we  have 
seen  that  in  some  cases  where  it  can  be  clearly 
proved  that  the  vision  occurred  some  hours  after  the 
death,  we  should  yet  not  be  justified  in  assuming  the 
agency  of  the  dead.^  After  all  reasonable  deduc- 
tions have,  however,  been  made,  there  will  be  found 
to  remain  a  considerable  number  of  well-attested 
apparitions  which  prmta  facie  refer  rather  to  the 
dead  than  to  the  living.  The  simplest  case  of  all  is 
that  in  which  the  fact  of  the  death  is  announced  by 
dream,  vision,  or  inner  voice  before  the  news  could 
have  reached  the  percipient  by  normal  means,  but 
at  such  an  interval  after  the  death  as  to  make  the 

*  See  above  p.  141. 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  213 

supposition  of  latency  no  longer  tenable.  We 
could  not  of  course  expect  that  such  cases  would 
be  as  numerous  as  those  in  which  the  dream  or 
vision  approximately  coincides  with  the  death,  if  for 
no  other  reason  than  that  generally  the  news  would 
be  conveyed,  by  letter  or  telegram,  to  those  most 
nearly  concerned  within  a  day  or  two  at  most.  We 
have  relatively  very  few  cases  of  the  kind  in  our  col- 
lection ;  and  even  if  we  grant  that  the  instances 
reported  to  us  have  been  diminished  in  number  by 
the  instinctive  tendency,  already  pointed  out,  to 
reduce  the  interval  between  the  death  and  the 
annunciatory  vision,  the  number  is  still  far  too 
small  to  permit  us  to  found  any  generalisation  upon 
it.  For  it  must  be  remembered  that  impressions 
which  occur  some  days  or  even  a  week  after  the 
death  offer  much  more  scope  for  chance  coincidence 
than  those  which  fall  within  twelve  hours  of  the 
death. 

But  even  if  narratives  such  as  those  referred  to 
were  much  more  numerous  than  is  in  fact  the  case, 
we  should  still  be  left  in  doubt  as  to  their  actual 
significance.  For  we  cannot  exclude  the  possibility 
that  the  percipient's  impression  may  have  had  its 
origin  in  the  minds  of  the  survivors,  mourning  over 
the  dead.  Such  an  explanation  is  unmistakably 
indicated  by  the  following  narrative. 

No.  42.     From  Mr.  Stephen  Peebles' 

Satank,  Colorado,  January  2nd,  1894. 

We  live  on  a  farm  ten  miles  from  Glenwood  Springs.      At 
'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  December,  1895. 


214  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

Glenwood  Springs  a  Mrs.  Walz,  whom  my  wife  has  known 
for  some  years,  lives  with  her  husband.  She  was  the  mother 
of  two  children,  one  an  infant.  This  Mrs.  Walz,  our  daughter 
(who  is  married  and  lives  near  us — a  mile  away),  and  a  Mrs. 
Zimmermann  have  been,  from  the  time  of  their  first  acquaint- 
ance, intimate  friends.  Mrs.  Zimmermann  lives  four  miles 
from  us,  fourteen  miles  from  Glenwood  Springs. 

My  wife  had  not  seen  Mrs,  Walz  for  months,  had  not  heard 
anything  about  her  for  some  time,  and  did  not  know  of  any 
sickness  in  her  family. 

On  Sunday  morning,  December  17th,  while  my  wife  was 
dressing,  and  before  she  had  seen  or  spoken  to  any  one  but 
me,  she  told  me  of  a  dream  she  had  had  in  the  night.  She 
dreamed  that  Mrs.  Walz's  baby  was  dead,  and  that  she  was  at 
their  house.  She  v/ished  to  do  certain  work  that  needed  to 
be  done  in  the  house,  but  she  was  not  dressed.  While  she 
was  struggling  vainly  to  get  her  clothes  on,  Mrs.  Zimmermann 
came  into  the  dream,  doing  this  work. 

It  was  about  six  o'clock  when  my  wife  told  me  this. 
About  ten  o'clock  our  daughter  came  in  and  told  us  that  she 
and  her  husband  had  been  to  Glenwood  Springs  the  day  be- 
fore to  attend  the  funeral  of  Madgie  Walz's  baby,  and  that 
Hattie  Zimmermann  was  there  doing  the  work  which  has  to 
be  done  on  such  occasions. 

Our  son  was  out  that  night  and  heard  of  the  death  of  the 
child;  but  he  [did  not  return  till  one  o'clock — long  after  we 
were  in  bed — and  he  was  not  up,  nor  had  he  spoken  to  his 
mother,  when  she  told  me  the  dream.  She  heard  him  come 
in,  and  she  thinks  the  dream  came  after  that. 

Stephen  Peebles. 

Mrs.  Peebles  writes: 

My  husband  has  read  the  above  to  me.  My  dream  was  as 
he  has  told  it,  and  my  recollection  of  the  circumstances  con- 
nected with  my  telling  ^it  to  him  and  its  verification  is  as  he 
has  given  them.  D.  L.  Peebles. 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  2 1 5 

Mr.  F.  M.  Peebles,  son  of  the  percipient,  writes: 

[Satank,  Colorado,  January  2nd,  1894.] 
I  was  away  from  home  on  that  evening  of  December  i6th, 
and  was  told  of  the  death  of  the  child,  which  formed  the  sub- 
ject of  my  mother's  dream.  I  think  this  was  about  eight  or 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  but  I  did  not  return  home  until 
after  midnight,  and  did  not  speak  to  my  mother  about  what  I 
had  heard  until  near  noon  the  next  day. 

Frank  M.  Peebles. 

Here  it  will  be  seen  the  dream  was  concerned 
with  the  domestic  cares  consequent  on  the  death, 
rather  than  with  the  death  itself.  It  would  seem 
therefore  most  probable  that  the  dream  originated 
in  the  mind  of  the  dreamer's  son  or  daughter 
who  were  acquainted  with  the  facts.  In  any  case, 
we  should  hardly  be  justified,  in  default  of  any 
analogous  instance,  in  invoking  the  agency  of 
the  dead  infant. 

A  similar  explanation  is  indicated  in  the  follow- 
ing case.  Mr.  Russell,  member  of  a  church  choir 
in  San  Francisco,  died  quite  suddenly  at  ii  a.m. 
At  1.30  P.M.  the  same  day  a  friend  went  to  the 
house  of  the  choirmaster.  Whilst  he  was  telling 
the  news  to  the  ladies  of  the  household,  the  choir- 
master himself,  who  was  at  the  time  occupied  up- 
stairs, saw  an  apparition  of  the  deceased.^  Here 
the  vision  coincided,  not  with  the  death,  but  with 
the  recital  of  it  to  the  relatives  of  the  percipient. 
Again,  in  each  of  the  five  cases  which  follow  the 
percipient's  impression   occurred  some  time  after 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  viii.,  p.  214. 


21 6  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

the  death,  but  only  a  few  hours  before  the  receipt 
of  the  news  by  normal  means. 

No.  43.    From  Miss  Kitching  ' 

Miss  Kitching,  then  in  Saratoga,  N.  Y.,  on  the  morning  of 
the  23rd  August,  1888,  had  in  a  dream  a  painful  impression 
of  the  death  of  her  brother  in  Algeria.  But  the  death  had 
taken  place  on  the  20th,  and  the  cablegram  announcing  it 
had  been  designedly  held  over  in  New  York  ;  from  which 
town  it  was  actually  despatched  to  Saratoga  a  few  hours 
after  the  dream. 

No.  44.    From  Mrs.  G.  T.  Haly  " 

122  CoNiNGHAM  Road,  Shepherd's  Bush,  "W. 
On  waking  in  broad  daylight,  I  saw,  like  a  shadowed  re- 
flection, a  very  long  coffin  stretching  quite  across  the  ceiling 
of  my  room,  and  as  I  lay  gazing  at  it,  and  wondering  at  its 
length  and  whose  death  it  could  foreshadow,  my  eyes  fell  on 
a  shadovvy  figure  of  an  absent  nephew  with  his  back  towards 
me,  searching,  as  it  were,  in  my  bookshelf.  That  morning's 
post  brought  me  the  news  of  his  death  in  Australia.  He  was 
six  foot  two  or  three  inches  in  height,  and  a  book  had  been  my 
last  present  to  him  on  his  leaving  England,  taken  from  that 
very  bookcase. 

Mr.  Gurney  saw  Mrs.  Haly  in  November,  1884, 
and  learnt  that  this,  and  an  appearance  of  lights, 
are  the  only  hallucinations  of  sight  Mrs.  Haly  has 
had,  and  that  she  clearly  recognised  her  nephew's 
figure.  The  event  occurred  in  the  winter  of 
1872-3,  some  six  weeks  after  the  nephew's  death. 
It  will  be  noted  that,  though  the  death  had  occurred 
several  weeks  previously,   the  phantasm  was  not 

*  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  June,  1893. 

'  Proceedings,    S.  P.  R.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  gi. 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  217 

seen  until  news  of  the  event  had  reached  England 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  post. 

No.  45.     From  Mr.   George  King  ' 

Mr.  George  King  (November,  1885)  on  the  night  of  Decem- 
ber 2,  1874,  after  being  present  at  a  Conversazione  at  King's 
College,  London,  dreamt  that  at  a  brilliant  assembly  his 
brother  advanced  towards  him.  He  was  in  evening  dress, 
like  all  the  rest,  and  was  the  very  image  of  buoyant  health. 
"  I  was  much  surprised  to  see  him,  and,  going  forward  to 
meet  him,  I  said  :  '  Hallo  !  D.,  how  are  you  here  ? '  He  shook 
me  warmly  by  the  hand  and  replied  :  '  Did  you  not  know  I 
have  been  wrecked  again  ? '  At  these  words  a  deadly  faint- 
ness  came  over  me.  I  seemed  to  swim  away  and  sink  to  the 
ground.  After  momentary  unconsciousness  I  awoke,  and 
found  myself  in  my  bed.  I  was  in  a  cold  perspiration,  and 
had  paroxysms  of  trembling,  which  would  not  be  controlled. 
I  argued  with  myself  on  the  absurdity  of  getting  into  a  panic 
over  a  dream,  but  all  to  no  purpose,  and  for  long  I  could  not 
sleep." 

The  newspapers  on  the  following  morning  con- 
tained an  account  of  the  foundering  of  the  La 
Plata,  the  ship  in  which  Mr.  King's  brother  had 
sailed,  on  November  29th. 

No.  46.     From  the  Rev.  G.  M.  Tandy,  Vicar  of  West 
Ward,  Cumberland^ 

Mr.  Tandy  had  called  upon  a  friend  in  a  neighbouring 
village  and  carried  away  with  him  a  newspaper,  still  in  its 
wrapper.  Some  hours  after  returning  home  he  saw  a  lifelike 
apparition  of  his  intimate  friend  Canon  Robinson.  On  sub- 
sequently removing  the  wrapper  of  the  newspaper  he  found 
an  account  of  the  death  of  Canon  Robinson,  of  which  he  had 
not  previously  heard. 

'  Proceedings ,  S.   P.  R.,  vol.  v.,  p.  455. 
«  Jbid,   p.  408. 


2i8  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

No.  47.     From  Mr.  Cameron  Grant  ' 

Mr.  Grant,  who  was  at  the  time  up  country,  in  Brazil,  had 
on  the  night  of  the  24th  December,  1885,  an  impression  of 
death,  and  connected  it  with  a  member  of  Lord  Z.'s  family. 
On  that  day  Lord  Z.  died. 

On  the  26th  January  the  impression  of  death  was  renewed. 
Both  the  impressions  are  attested  by  entries  in  Mr.  Grant's 
diary. 

On  the  27th  January  there  is  an  entry  as  follows  :  "Very 
tired,  but  did  not  sleep  a  wink  all  night.  I  am  sure  that 
something  has  happened  to  [a  member  of  Lord  Z.'s  family]. 
I  heard  every  hour  strike,  and  kept  thinking  of  [all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  family]  but  7iot  of  the  dear  old  gentleman  [/.  <?., 
imagining  than  in  sorrow,  but  not  Lord  Z.  himself].  I  got  up 
and  wanted  to  draw  him.  His  features  seemed  before  me.  I 
had  before  shown  Mr.  Catlin  a  face  in  the  Graphic  that  was 
like  him,  also  that  of  a  dead  man.  I  had  the  greatest  difficulty 
not  to  draw  his  portrait  with  his  head  forward  and  sunk  on  his 
breast,  as  if  he  had  been  sitting  in  a  room  with  a  window  on 
his  right  hand  and  an  old  man-servant ; — and  then  his  head 
just  went  forward,  and  he  fell  asleep.  Weeks  ago  I  thought 
of  him, — some  time  about  Christmas  ;  and  ever  since  I  have 
been  feeling  [pity,  etc.,  for  members  of  family]." 

On  the  next  day,  Thursday,  January  28,  1886, 
Mr.  Grant  received  by  accident  a  Scotch  paper  in 
which  Lord  Z.'s  death  was  mentioned, — but  ap- 
parently without  the  precise  date. 

I  have  grouped  these  five  cases  together,  be- 
cause there  would  appear  to  be  some  connection 
between  the  percipient's  impression  and  the  news 
of  the  death  which  followed  a  few  hours  later.  It 
is  not  easy  to  conjecture  the  precise  nature  of  this 

'  Proceedings^  S.  P.  R.,  vol.   viii.,  p.  212.     See  also  Phantasms  of  the 

Living,  vol.  ii.,  p.  690. 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  219 

connection  :  for  we  do  not  know  enough  of  the 
surrounding  circumstances.  But  we  may  note,  as 
probably  not  without  significance,  the  fact  that  the 
telepathic  message  came  just  at  the  moment  when 
the  news  of  the  death  was  known,  or  might  have 
been  known,  to  persons  in  the  vicinity  of  the  per- 
cipient— that  is,  when  the  possibility  of  thought- 
transference  from  the  living  had  been  established. 

There  is  a  case  recorded  in  Pha7itasms  of  the 
Living  (vol.  i.,  p.  365),  in  which  Mrs.  Menneer  saw 
in  a  dream  the  body  of  her  brother,  Mr.  Wellington, 
standing  by  her  bedside,  with  his  head  lying  on  a 
coffin  by  his  side.  Mr.  Wellington  had  actually 
been  decapitated  by  the  Chinese  at  about  the  time 
of  the  dream — the  exact  date  of  the  dream  cannot 
now  be  fixed. 

To  Mr.  Gurney  the  Interpretation  of  the  dream 
on  the  hypothesis  of  thought-transference  from  the 
living  presented  some  difficulties  :  It  seemed  neces- 
sary to  suppose  that  Mr.  Wellington  had  dramatised 
his  own  fate  at  the  moment  of  death.  But  we  have 
since  learnt  that  the  head  was  given  up  to  Mr. 
Wellington's  friends  on  the  following  day,  and  a 
telepathic  message  from  their  minds  is  thus  sug- 
gested as  a  possible  explanation.^ 

Several  cases  have  been  reported  to  us  In  which 
a  dying  man  has  seen  the  figure  of  a  friend,  of 
whose  death  he  could  not  have  been  aware  by  or- 
dinary means.     In  some  of  these  cases  the  fact  was 

'  See  Mr.  Myers's  comments  on  the  ca^e,  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R,,  vol.  viii., 
p.  208.     See  also,  in  this  connection.  Cases  39,  40,  and  41,  Chapter  VI. 


220  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

known  to  those  around  the  sick-bed,  and  had  been 
deHberately  withheld  from  the  patient.  In  the  case 
which  follows,  however,  the  fact  of  the  death  of  the 
person  seen  in  the  vision  was  not  apparently  known 
to  any  one  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  percipient, 
and  the  hypothesis  of  thought-transference  from 
the  living  is  so  far  less  plausible.  It  is  possible 
that  the  approach  of  death  may  in  itself  tend,  as 
suggested  by  Mr.  Myers,  to  quicken  and  stimulate 
our  psychical  faculties. 

No.  48.     From  Colonel ' 

Writing  on  the  ist  March,  1885,  Colonel explains  that 

about  sixteen  years  previously  he  had  invited  Miss  Julia  X., 
the  daughter  of  his  gunmaker,  to  stay  in  his  house  for  a  week 
in  order  that  she  might  take  part  in  some  singing  at  the  house 
of  a  neighbour,  Mrs.  Y.  Miss  X.  gave  great  pleasure  by  her 
visit  :  she  was  shortly  after  married,  and  gave  up  the  idea  of 
coming  out  as  a  singer.  Mrs.  Y.  apparently  never  saw  her 
again.     Some  years  later,  on  the  12th  of  February,  1874,  Mrs. 

Y.  lay  dying,  and  Colonel had  come  to  talk  over  some 

business  matters  with  her.  She  was,  he  tells  us,  in  thorough 
possession  of  her  senses.  "  She  changed  the  subject  and  said  : 
'Do  you  hear  those  voices  singing?'  I  replied  that  I  did 
not ;  and  she  said:  '  I  have  heard  them  several  times  to-day, 
and  I  am  sure  they  are  the  angels  welcoming  me  to  Heaven  ; 
but,'  she  added,  'it  is  strange,  there  is  one  voice  amongst 
them  I  am  sure  I  know,  and  cannot  remember  whose  voice  it 
is.'  Suddenly  she  stopped  and  said,  pointing  straight  over 
my  head,  'Why  there  she  is  in  the  corner  of  the  room  ;  it  is 
Julia  X.;  she  is  coming  on  ;  she  is  leaning  over  you  ;  she  has 
her  hands  up  ;  she  is  praying  ;  do  look  ;  she  is  going.'  I 
turned  but  could  see  nothing.     Mrs.  Y-  then  said  :    '  She  is 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  92, 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  221 

gone.'  All  these  things  I  imagined  to  be  the  phantasies  of  a 
dying  person." 

On  the  following  day  Mrs.  Y.  died.     On  the  day  after,  the 

14th,  Colonel saw  in  the  Times  the  notice  of  the  death  of 

Julia  X.  (Mrs.  Webley),  From  Mr.  Webley  we  learn  that  she 
died  on  the  2nd  of  February,  1874,  and  that  the  last  hours  of 
her  life  were  spent  in  singing. 

In  the  cases  so  far  considered,  which  occurred 
within,  at  furthest,  a  few  weeks  after  death,  no  in- 
formation has  been  communicated  beyond  the  fact 
of  the  death  itself,  and  occasionally  the  circum- 
stances and  manner  of  the  death,  or  the  appearance 
of  the  deceased  person  at  the  time.  But  the  popu- 
lar conception  of  a  ghost,  a  returning  spirit,  includes 
more  than  this.  In  traditional  stories  the  spirit 
generally  returns  to  communicate  a  definite  message 
to  the  survivors.  Sometimes  the  message  consists 
simply  in  the  fact  of  the  survival  of  the  soul  after 
death ;  but  frequently  it  is  concerned  with  things 
left  undone  in  his  lifetime  by  the  deceased.  In 
comparatively  few  of  the  narratives  collected  by  us 
do  concrete  messages  of  this  kind  play  a  part.  That 
fact  furnishes  in  itself,  of  course,  strong  proof  of 
the  good  faith  and  scrupulousness  of  our  informants. 
It  is  clear  that  they  are  dealing  with  matters  of 
their  own  personal  experience,  and  have  not  given 
rein  to  their  imagination.  It  will  be  noticed,  in- 
deed, by  any  one  who  carefully  compares  a  large 
number  of  these  narratives,  that,  in  the  more  recent 
cases  at  any  rate,  the  waking  vision  is  not  often 
represented  as  giving  a  message  of  particular  im- 
port.   The  apparition  seen  with  the  eyes  open  may 


222  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

resemble  the  dead  man,  but  the  resemblance  is  to 
the  figure  familiar  to  the  percipient  in  life.  It  is, 
in  other  words,  open  to  us  to  suppose  that  the 
clothing  and  imagery  are  supplied  by  the  percipi- 
ent's own  imagination.  There  is  rarely  any  novel 
feature  of  costume ;  rarely  any  communication  to 
other  senses  than  that  of  sight.  It  is,  generally 
speaking,  in  the  narratives  which  deal  with  remoter 
experiences  that  the  more  sensational  details  are 
apt  to  appear.  In  short,  statements  written  down 
many  years  after  the  event  to  which  they  relate 
have  a  tendency  to  conform  more  closely  to  the 
traditional  type.  But  though  in  the  best  attested 
accounts  of  waking  hallucinations  we  can  find  few 
parallels  to  the  repentant  monk,  the  troubled  miser, 
or  the  conscientious  debtor  of  the  popular  imagina- 
tion, we  do  in  dreams  find  many  cases  where  pur- 
pose and  knowledge  are  shown  which  apparently 
point  to  the  agency  of  the  deceased.  That  such 
indications  practically  occur  only  in  dreams  is  not 
in  itself  a  suspicious  circumstance.  Dreams  no 
doubt,  as  already  pointed  out,  have  less  ostensive 
value  than  waking  visions,  because  of  the  greater 
scope  for  chance  coincidence.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  tele- 
pathic communication  of  all  kinds  is  most  readily 
established  when,  as  in  sleep  or  trance,  the  faculties 
which  deal  with  the  life  of  relation  are  in  abeyance. 
We  have  no  reason  therefore  for  distrusting  the 
accuracy  of  a  dream  story,  on  the  sole  ground  that  it 
imports  sensational  features  of  the  kind  referred  to. 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  223 

I  propose  to  cite  a  few  narratives  in  which  in- 
formation purporting  to  proceed  from  a  deceased 
person,  and  beyond  the  conscious  knowledge  of 
the  recipient,  was  communicated  in  dream  or  some 
alHed  state.  It  is  of  course  impossible  in  any  case 
of  this  kind  to  be  absolutely  satisfied  that  the  infor- 
mation was  not  already  latent  in  the  dreamer's  mind. 
We  know  of  many  cases  in  which  impressions,  after 
remaining  latent  through  a  period  of  weeks  or  even 
years,  have  ultimately  emerged  in  sleep,  crystal 
vision,  or  other  form  of  automatism.  But  the  reader 
will  probably  agree  that  in  some  of  the  narratives 
quoted  such  an  explanation  is  at  least  improbable; 
and  that  the  accumulation  of  a  large  number  of 
similar  instances  would  furnish  an  argument  of  some 
weight  for  the  survival  of  human  personality  after 
the  death  of  the  body.  The  hypothesis  of  the 
emergence  of  latent  memory  can  no  doubt  be  ap- 
plied in  the  following  case. 

No.  49.    From  Professor  Dolbear  ^ 

Mr.  Dolbear,  Professor  of  Physics  at  Tufts  College,  Mass., 
dreamt  one  night  that  he  saw  and  spoke  to  a  deceased  acquain- 
tance, Mr.  Farmer,  an  electrician.  In  his  dream  Professor 
Dolbear  asked  for  a  test  of  identity,  and  Farmer  held  out  his 
left  hand,  with  the  fingers  bent  in  a  very  extraordinary  way. 
On  his  relating  the  dream  to  Miss  Farmer,  Professor  Dolbear 
learnt  that  this  particular  disposition  of  the  fingers  was  a  com- 
mon trick  on  the  part  of  the  dead  man.  Professor  Dolbear  had, 
however,  no  recollection  of  ever  seeing  such  a  trick,  and  as  his 
acquaintance  with  Mr.  Farmer  was  purely  on  a  business  foot- 
ing, he  thinks  it  unlikely  that  he  had  actually  seen  it. 

>  journal,  S.  P.  R.,  October,  1897. 


224  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

In  the  following  case  the  hypothesis  of  the  re- 
vival in  dream  of  a  latent  impression  involves  per- 
haps a  higher  degree  of  improbability. 

Miss  Whiting,  the  narrator,  had  been  an  intimate 
friend  of  Kate  Field,  the  well-known  American 
journalist,  and  was  in  1899  bringing  out  a  life  of 
her  deceased  friend.  Miss  Whiting  believes  that 
she  has  frequently  held  communication  with  the 
spirit  of  Kate  Field. 

No.  50.     From  Miss  Lilian  Whiting' 

8th  August,   1899. 

Between  2  and  3  a.m.,  August  4th,  Kate  wakened  me,  speak- 
ing to  me  excitedly  about  a  "  letter  of  Lowell's  "  to  her.  All 
was  confused  and  rapid,  but  at  last  I  caught  clearly:  "In  K. 
F.'s  W. — in  my  Washington,  Lilian  ;  look  in  my  Washington." 
Then  I  vaguely  recalled  that  Lowell  had  written  her  a  letter 
in  re  International  Copyright,  which  she  had  published  in  her 
journal,  and  which  I  had  already  included  in  her  biography, 
so  I  replied  to  her:  "  Yes,  darling,  I  know — the  letter  is  in  the 
book.     It  's  all  right." 

Again  an  excited  and  rapid  speaking,  of  which  I  only  caught 
here  and  there  a  word,  but — partly  from  impression,  and  al- 
most impulsion — I  rose,  went  out  into  my  parlour,  turned  on 
the  electric  light, and  took  the  five  bound  volumes  of  her  K.  F.'s 
W.  down  from  my  shelves.  Half  automatically  I  seemed  to  be 
guided  (for  I  had  totally  forgotten  its  existence)  to  a  letter 
that  Lowell  wrote  to  her  in  1879,  when  he  was  American  Min- 
ister to  Spain — writing  from  Madrid,  and  she  in  London — and 
which,  on  his  death,  she  had  published  in  her  Washi?igton. 

[Miss  Whiting  explains  that  the  letter  was  of  considerable 
literary  interest,  and  then  adds :]  As  the  original  letter  was 
not  among  Miss  Field's  MSB.,  and  as  I  had  totally  forgotten  it 
(I  don't,  even  now,  recall  seeing  it,  though  I  must  have  at  the 

•  Journal,  S.  P.  R..  December,  1899. 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  225 

time),  this  very  important  letter  would  have  been  left  out  of 
her  biography,  had  she  not  thus  called  me  and  led  me  to  it. 
There  was  barely  time  to  get  [it]  in  before  the  first  casting 
of  the  proofs.  I  went  with  it  myself  out  to  the  University 
Press  the  next  morning  to  see  where  I  could  now  introduce  it 
in  the  part  of  proofs  not  yet  cast — as  I  couldn't  even  delay  for 
the  mail.  Miss  Field's  waking  me, — her  urgent  and  excited 
and  forcible  manner  and  words, — were  just  as  real  to  me  as 
would  have  been  [those]  of  some  friend  in  this  world  coming 
to  my  bedside  in  the  night.  L.  W. 

On  a  first  reading  Miss  Whiting's  Interpretation 
of  this  dramatic  incident  would  appear  to  be  the 
most  probable.  But  a  case  which  offers  many  points 
of  similarity  has  been  put  on  record  by  Dr.  Hllprecht, 
Professor  of  Assyrian  at  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. After  puzzling  over  the  inscription  on  two 
fragments  of  agate  from  the  temple  of  Bel,  at  N  ippur, 
he  fell  asleep  and  dreamt  that  the  priest  of  Bel  ap- 
peared to  him,  led  him  into  the  treasure  chamber  of 
the  temple,  and  then  gave  him  the  history  of  the  two 
fragments  and  an  interpretation  of  the  inscription. 
This  interpretation,  the  next  day  he  found  to  be 
correct.  Here  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
revelation  made  In  the  dream  was  but  the  final  result 
of  the  dreamer's  own  processes  of  unconscious 
cerebration,  and  the  priestly  visitant  only  a  puppet 
In  the  drama.  ^ 

It  is  more  difficult  in  the  next  case  to  apply  the 
hypothesis  of  latent  knowledge,  though  Professor 
Alexander,  who  procured  the  narrative  for  us,  writes 

'  Quoted  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xii.,  p.  ii. 
15 


226  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

that  the  incident   is    '*  of  a  type  rather  frequent 
among  Brazihan  CathoHcs." 

No.  51.    From  Donna  Nery  ' 

Barbacena,  March  26th,  1895. 

In  January,  1894,  the  decease  occurred  of  Felicite  G.,  a 
young  Belgian  lady,  who  was  married  to  a  nephew  of  mine. 
After  the  death  of  his  wife,  the  latter  came  to  our  house  at 
Barbacena,  bringing  with  him  much  luggage  belonging  to  the 
deceased,  and  he  stayed  here  with  his  children  for  some  days. 

Some  two  months  afterwards — 1  have  no  means  of  ascertain- 
ing the  exact  date — I  went  to  a  soiree  and  returned  home 
about  2  o'clock  in  the  morning,  having  passed  some  pleasant 
hours  in  which  all  thoughts  of  sadness  were  temporarily  swept 
from  my  memory.  On  that  very  night,  however,  I  had  a  vivid 
dream  of  Felicity.  It  seemed  to  me  that  she  entered  the  room 
where  I  really  lay  asleep,  and,  sitting  down  on  the  bedside, 
asked  me,  as  a  favour,  to  look  into  an  old  tin  box  under  the 
staircase  for  a  certain  wax  candle,  which  had  been  already 
lighted,  and  which  she  had  promised  to  Our  Lady.  On  my 
consenting  to  do  so,  she  took  leave  of  me,  saying,  ''*'  Ati 0  outro 
mundo  (Till  the  other  world).""  I  awoke  from  the  dream 
much  impressed.  It  was  still  dark,  but  I  could  no  longer 
sleep. 

On  that  day,  the  others  having  gone  out,  I  called  a  servant 
and  ordered  her  to  search  in  the  tin  box,  which  had,  in  fact, 
been  placed  under  the  staircase,  and  which  had  belonged  to 
Felicity.  No  one  had  opened  the  box  before.  It  was  full  of 
old  clothes  and  cuttings,  among  which  it  was  by  no  means 
probable  that  we  should  find  a  wax  candle.  The  servant 
turned  over  these  clothes,  at  first  without  result,  and  I  was  al- 
ready beginning  to  think  that  my  dream  was  of  no  importance, 
when,  on  straightening  out  the  clothes  so  that  the  box  might 
be  closed,  I  saw  the  end  of  a  candle,  which  I  at  once  ordered 

'  yournal,  S.  P.  R.,  January,  1896. 

'^  "  Till  soon,"  "Till  to-morrow,"  "Till  the  return,"  etc..  are  the 
expressions  generally  used  in  Brazilian  leave-taking. — A.  A. 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  227 

her  to  take  out.  It  was  of  wax — of  the  kind  used  for  promises 
[to  saints] — and,  what  was  a  still  more  singular  coincidence,  it 
had  already  been  lighted. 

We  delivered  the  candle  to  Monsenhor  Jose  Augusto,  of 
Barbacena,  in  performance  of  my  niece's  pious  vow  thus 
curiously  revealed  in  a  dream. 

(Signed)     Guilhermina  Nerv. 

Senhor  Nery  writes : 

Barbacena,  March  26th,  1895. 
I  recollect  that,  on  the  occasion,  my  wife  told  me  of  the 
dream,  much  impressed  by  it.     It  is  exactly  what  is  written. 
(Signed)     Domingos  Nery. 

The  next  case  comes  to  us  from  America.  The 
facts  were  carefully  investigated  within  a  few  weeks 
of  the  occurrence  by  Dr.  Hodgson,  and  there  seems 
no  ground  for  doubting  that  the  dream  actually  oc- 
curred as  stated.  The  following  account  extracted 
from  a  local  newspaper  was  written  by  a  member  of 
the  staff  who  happened  to  enter  the  coroner's  office 
a  few  minutes  after  the  son  of  the  dead  man,  who 
had  returned  to  Dubuque  on  the  strength  of  his 
sister's  dream,  had  searched  the  clothes,  and  found 
the  money.  The  reporter  heard  the  facts  both 
from  the  son  and  from  the  coroner. 

No.  52.     From  "  The  Herald,"  Dubuque,  Iowa  ' 

February  nth,  1891. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  on  February  2nd,  Michael  Con- 
ley,  a  farmer  living  near  Ionia,  Chickasaw  County,  was  found 
dead  in  an  outhouse  at  the  Jefferson  house.  He  was  carried 
to  Coroner  Hoffmann's  morgue,  where,  after  the  inquest,  his 
body  was  prepared  for  shipment  to  his  late  home.     The  old 

*  Proceedings,  S,  P.  R.,  vol.  viii.,  pp.  200,  201. 


2  28  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

clothes  which  he  wore  were  covered  with  filth  from  the  place 
where  he  was  found  and  they  were  thrown  outside  the  morgue 
on  the  ground. 

His  son  came  from  Ionia  and  took  the  corpse  home.  When 
he  reached  there  and  one  of  the  daughters  was  told  that  her 
father  was  dead,  she  fell  into  a  swoon,  in  which  she  remained 
for  several  hours.  When  at  last  she  was  brought  from  the 
swoon,  she  said,  "  Where  are  father's  old  clothes  ?  He  has 
just  appeared  to  me  dressed  in  a  white  shirt,  black  clothes, 
and  felt  [misreported  for  satin\  slippers,  and  told  me  that 
after  leaving  home  he  sewed  a  large  roll  of  bills  inside  his 
grey  shirt  with  a  piece  of  my  red  dress  and  the  money  is  still 
there."  In  a  short  time  she  fell  into  another  swoon  and  when 
out  of  it  demanded  that  somebody  go  to  Dubuque  and  get  the 
clothes.     She  was  deathly  sick,  and  is  so  yet. 

The  entire  family  considered  it  only  a  hallucination,  but 
the  physician  advised  them  to  get  the  clothes,  as  it  might  set 
her  mind  at  rest.  The  son  telephoned  Coroner  Hoffmann 
asking  if  the  clothes  were  still  in  his  possession.  He  looked 
and  found  them  in  the  backyard,  although  he  had  supposed 
they  were  thrown  in  the  vault  as  he  had  intended.  He  an- 
swered that  he  still  had  them,  and  on  being  told  that  the  son 
would  come  to  get  them,  they  were  wrapped  in  a  bundle. 

The  young  man  arrived  last  Monday  afternoon  and  told 
Coroner  Hoffmann  what  his  sister  had  said.  Mr.  Hoff- 
mann admitted  that  the  lady  had  described  the  identical 
burial  garb  in  which  her  father  was  clad,  even  to  the  slippers, 
although  she  never  saw  him  after  death,  and  none  of  the  family 
had  seen  more  than  his  face  through  the  coffin  lid.  Curiosity 
being  fully  aroused,  they  took  the  grey  shirt  from  the  bundle 
and  within  the  bosom  found  a  large  roll  of  bills  sewed  with  a 
piece  of  red  cloth.  The  young  man  said  his  sister  had  a  red 
dress  exactly  like  it.  The  stitches  were  large  and  irregular, 
and  looked  to  be  those  of  a  man.  The  son  wrapped  up  the 
garments  and  took  them  home  with  him  yesterday  morning^ 
filled  with  wonder  at  the  supernatural  revelation  made  to  his 
sister,  who  is  at  present  lingering  between  life  and  death. 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  229 

The  coroner  and  the  other  persons  concerned 
have  confirmed  the  accuracy  of  the  newspaper  ac- 
count. The  percipient,  though  unwilhng  to  write 
out  her  version  of  the  incident,  has  related  the 
dream  in  similar  terms  to  Mr.  Amos  Crum,  the 
pastor  of  a  neighbouring  church. 

There  is  another  class  of  evidence  iox post-mortem 
agency  which  may  briefly  be  referred  to  here.  Sev- 
eral cases  have  been  investigated  by  us  in  which  the 
body  of  a  drowned  man  has,  after  fruitless  search 
by  ordinary  means,  been  at  length  discovered 
through  a  dream.  A  typical  case  of  the  kind  oc- 
curred at  New  Lambton  (County  Durham)  in  Jan- 
uary, 1902.  A  police  constable  in  the  neighbourhood 
had  disappeared  on  the  night  of  the  4th  January. 
For  the  next  four  days  the  neighbourhood  was 
thoroughly  searched,  some  thirty  or  forty  constables 
assisting.  On  the  8th  January  a  friend  of  the  miss- 
ing constable  dreamt  that  he  saw  the  body  in  a 
particular  spot  in  a  stream  running  through  a  wood. 
The  next  day,  after  mentioning  his  dream  to  several 
persons,  he  went  to  the  spot  indicated,  thrust  a  long 
pole  into  the  water,  and  raised  the  body.^ 

Of  the  facts  there  can  be  no  question.  But  the 
dreamer  had  actually  taken  part  in  the  search  along 
the  banks  of  this  very  stream  ;  and  we  cannot,  there- 
fore, exclude  the  possibility  that  some  indication 
had  been  perceived  subconsciously  which  first  re- 
ceived full  recognition  in  the  dream.  However, 
the  incident,  as  said,  is  by  no  means  an  isolated  one, 

^Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  November,  1902. 


23©  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

and  the  hypothesis  of  subconscious  perception  be- 
comes less  plausible  the  more  numerous  the  instances 
which  it  is  invoked  to  cover.  In  the  next  chapter 
we  shall  have  to  consider  a  case  in  which  the  skele- 
ton of  a  man  murdered  forty  years  previously  was 
discovered  through  a  persistent  dream. 

So  far  we  have  passed  in  review  examples  of 
messages  purporting  to  emanate  from  the  dead,  in 
which  the  proof  of  such  origin  consists  in  the  in- 
formation, whether  as  to  the  death  itself,  or  as  to 
some  other  fact  presumably  known  only  to  the  de- 
ceased, which  was  conveyed  by  the  message.  We 
have  now  to  consider  an  important  class  of  cases  in 
which  the  apparition  is  seen  by  two  or  more  persons 
simultaneously — "  collective  "  apparitions,  as  they 
are  conveniently  termed.  ^ 

The  fact  that  the  phantasm  is  seen  by  more  than 
one  person  at  the  same  moment  inevitably  suggests 
that  the  apparition  is  in  some  sense  objective ;  i.  e., 
that  It  has  a  cause  external  to  the  minds  of  all  the 
percipients.  But  even  when  two  or  three  witnesses 
are  prepared  to  attest  the  reality  of  the  vision,  it 
would  be  difficult  now  to  maintain  the  older  view 
that  the  thing  seen  is  objective  in  the  sense  of  being 
material,  or  even  quasi-material,  astral,  metetherlal, 
or  whatever  other  name  may  be  found  for  the 
hypothetical  substance.  Whatever  the  cause  of  the 
apparition,  it  will  probably  be  recognised  that  it  is 

'  For  the  sake  of  convenience  the  case  of  collective  visual  hallucinations 
only  is  considered  in  the  text.  For  examples  of  collective  auditory  hallu- 
cinations, see  the  Census  Report  {Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  pp.  315-17). 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead 


231 


in  substance  a  hallucination — the  stuff  of  which 
dreams  are  made — and  has  no  more  materiality,  or 
quasi-materiality,  than  they. 

Collective  hallucinations,  or  what  purport  to  be 
such,  though  far  less  common  than  solitary  hallu- 
cinations, are  still  fairly  numerous.  In  the  Census 
95  visual  cases  were  reported  at  first  hand,  as  com- 
pared with  992  cases  of  unshared  hallucinations. 
The  following  table  shows  the  nature  of  the  collec- 
tive hallucinations  reported  in  the  Census. 

Collective  Visual  Hallucinations,  divided  according  to  con- 


ditions OF  PERCEPTION' 


Percip- 
ients 
in  bed. 

Percip- 
ients up 
and  in- 
doors. 

Seen 
doors. 

Totals 

Realistic  human  apparitions  of  living  persons 
■'                             "               dead  persons 
"                              "               unrecognised 

3 
2 

4 

I 

10 
6 

13 
4 

3 

I 

5 

14 
2 
17 

4 

2 

I 

I 

27 

s 
32 

12 

3 
4 
I 
2 
6 

Angels  and  religious  apparitions  or  visions 
Apparitions,  grotesque,  horrible,  or  monstrous 

"             of  definite  inanimate  objects 

Totals 

42 

42 

95 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  p.  414. 


232  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

From  this  total,  however,  of  95  cases  large  de- 
ductions should  be  made.  In  only  43  of  the  cases 
have  we  received  testimony  from  a  second  percip- 
ient ;  and  it  is  practically  certain  that  in  some  cases 
the  narrator's  memory  is  at  fault  in  assuming  that 
his  experience  was  shared.  Further,  the  large  pro- 
portion of  collective  hallucinations  seen  out  of  doors 
(33  out  of  67  apparitions  of  the  human  form)  sug- 
gests that  in  many  cases  the  hallucinatory  character 
of  the  experience  may  have  been  too  hastily  as- 
sumed.    The  figure  may  have  been  a  real  person. 

Again,  in  some  cases  it  seems  possible  that  the 
experience  may  have  been  of  the  nature  of  an 
illusion  rather  than  a  hallucination — a  misinterpre- 
tation of  some  actual  sense  impression  occurring  to 
both  percipients  simultaneously.  Or  again,  the 
similarity  of  the  impressions  reported  by  different 
percipients  may  have  been  due  to  verbal  sug- 
gestion. This  explanation  is  especially  applicable 
when  the  vision,  as  in  one  of  the  cases  cited  below, 
lasted  for  several  minutes. 

But  when  ample  allowance  has  been  made  on 
these  accounts,  enough  well  evidenced  cases  remain, 
both  in  the  Census  and  outside  of  it,  to  compel  us 
to  search  for  some  other  explanation  than  those 
indicated  above.  If  the  existence,  then,  of  a  class 
of  collectively  perceived  hallucinations  is  admitted, 
there  are,  apart  from  verbal  suggestion,  two  con- 
ceivable explanations :  (i)  The  apparition  may  be 
due  to  a  cause  external  to  the  minds  of  all  the 
percipients,   or  (2)   it  may  originate   in  the  mind 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  233 

of  one  of  those  present,  and  be  transferred  tele- 
pathically  to  the  rest.  In  the  latter  case,  the  vision 
may  have  no  objective  significance,  and  may  testify 
to  no  reahty.  It  is  obvious  that,  in  the  case  of 
apparitions  representing  the  dead,  we  have  no 
criterion  which  will  enable  us  to  decide  between 
these  alternative  explanations.  At  most,  we  can 
determine  upon  which  side  the  balance  of  proba- 
bility lies,  by  considering  the  whole  of  the  evidence. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  we  may  note  that  col- 
lective visions  are  occasionally  concerned  with 
inanimate  objects — e.g.,  a  chair,  or  a  skeleton, — or 
with  animals.  We  have  several  cases  in  which 
apparitions  of  animals,  a  cat,  or  a  bull,  have  been 
seen  by  two  witnesses  simultaneously.  We  have 
also  many  cases  of  lights  seen  collectively.  We 
have  an  interesting  experimental  case  in  which  two 
young  ladies  saw  the  same  imaginary  scene  in  a 
crystal — pyramids  and  a  train  of  camels.^ 

Further,  it  will  be  seen  from  the  Census  table  that 
nearly  half  the  human  apparitions  seen  represented 
persons  unknown  to  the  percipients.  Again,  collect- 
ive apparitions  of  the  living,  which  constitute  more 
than  three  fourths  of  the  recognised  apparitions 
shown  in  the  table,  are  not  as  a  rule  seen  under 
circumstances  such  as  to  suggest  the  agency  of 
the  person  represented.  A  typical  case  is  quoted 
in  the  Census  Report.  ~  Two  sisters,  playing 
the    harmonium    in    an    empty    church,    saw   the 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  November,  igoi,  p.  134. 
'  Proceedings,  vol.  x. ,  p.  306. 


234  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

figure  of  a  third  sister  walk  up  the  church  and 
mysteriously  disappear.  The  third  sister  had  ac- 
companied them  to  the  Rectory,  and,  as  appeared 
subsequently,  had  spent  most  of  the  afternoon  in  the 
library.  She  had,  indeed,  gone  to  the  church  gate 
with  the  intention  of  entering,  but  had  turned  back. 
It  would  seem  extravagant  to  suppose  that  her 
easily  abandoned  intention  had  wrought  such  an 
impression  upon  the  minds  of  her  sisters  as  to 
cause  a  hallucinatory  apparition  of  herself.  And  in 
many  cases  of  collective  hallucinations  there  is  no 
apparent  connection  of  any  kind  between  the  per- 
cipients' experience,  and  the  condition  of  the  living 
person  whose  phantasmal  likeness  is  seen. 

All  these  considerations  point  to  the  conclusion 
that,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  at  any  rate, 
the  collectively  seen  apparition  has  no  point  of 
interest  beyond  its  collectivity ;  that  it  is,  in  fact,  no 
more  significant  than  the  ordinary  casual  hallucina- 
tion, from  which  it  is  distinguished  merely  by  the 
fact  that,  owing  to  favouring  circumstances,  it  is 
telepathically  transferred  to  another  mind.  But 
obviously  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge 
such  a  conclusion  can  only  be  tentative,  and  the 
reader  must  judge  for  himself  how  far  the  cases  to 
be  cited  justify  provisionally  the  assumption  of 
post-mortem  agency. 

The  following  account,  which  was  procured  for 
us  by  the  Rev.  A.  Holborn,  will  serve  to  illustrate 
the  type.  The  ladies,  who  are  well-known  to  Mr. 
Holborn,  withhold  their  names,  at  the  request  of 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  235 

the  surviving  relatives  of  the  little  boy.  The  state- 
ment is  signed  by  both  ladies. 

No.  53' 

A  little  friend  of  ours,  H.  G.,  had  been  ill  a  long  time.  His 
mother,  who  was  my  greatest  friend,  had  nursed  her  boy  with 
infinite  care,  and  during  her  short  last  illness  was  full  of 
solicitude  for  him. 

After  her  death  he  seemed  to  become  stronger  for  a  time, 
but  again  grew  very  ill,  and  needed  the  most  constant  care, 
his  eldest  sister  watching  over  him  as  the  mother  had  done. 
As  I  was  on  the  most  intimate  terms  with  the  family,  I  saw  a 
great  deal  of  the  invalid. 

On  Sunday  evening,  June  28th,  1903,  about  nine  o'clock,  I 
and  the  sister  were  standing  at  the  foot  of  the  bed,  watching 
the  sick  one,  who  was  unconscious,  when  suddenly  I  saw  the 
mother  distinctly.  She  was  in  her  ordinary  dress  as  when 
with  us,  nothing  supernatural  in  her  appearance.  She  was 
bending  over  her  boy  with  a  look  of  infinite  love  and  longing 
and  did  not  seem  to  notice  us.  After  a  minute  or  two  she 
quietly  and  suddenly  was  not  there.  I  was  so  struck  that  I 
turned  to  speak  to  the  sister,  but  she  seemed  so  engrossed 
that  I  did  not  think  it  wise  to  say  anything. 

The  little  patient  grew  gradually  worse,  until  on  Tuesday 
evening,  June  30th,  I  was  summoned  to  go  at  once.  When  I 
arrived  at  the  house  he  had  passed  away.  After  rendering 
the  last  offices  of  love  to  the  dear  little  body,  the  sister  and  I 

again  stood,  as  on  the  Sunday,  when  I  said,  "  M ,  I  had  a 

strange  experience  on  Sunday  evening  here."  She  quickly 
replied,  "Yes,  mother  was  here  ;  I  saw  her."  The  young  girl 
is  not  given  to  fancies  at  all,  and  must  have  been  impressed 
as  I  was. 

As  said,  the  interpretation  of  the  vision  is  am- 
biguous.      In    the    remarkable    case    of    Frances 

'  yo7irual,  S.  P.  R.,  February,  IQ04,  p.  187. 


236  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

Reddell,  the  vision  seen  by  the  watcher  at  the  death- 
bed was  that  of  a  Hving  woman,  the  patient's 
mother.  Frances  Reddell,  a  servant  of  Mrs.  Pole 
Carew,  when  nursing  a  fellow-servant,  who  was 
dying  of  typhoid  fever,  heard  a  bell  ring,  and  then 
"heard  the  door  open,  and  looking  round,  saw  a 
very  stout  old  woman  walk  in.  She  was  dressed  in 
a  nightgown  and  red  flannel  petticoat,  and  carried 
an  old-fashioned  brass  candlestick  in  her  hand. 
The  petticoat  had  a  hole  rubbed  in  it."  The  vision 
then  disappeared.  The  sick  girl  died  a  few  hours 
later,  and  when  the  mother  attended  the  funeral, 
Frances  Reddell  and  Mrs.  Pole  Carew,  to  whom 
she  had  told  the  story,  recognised  in  her  the 
original  of  the  apparition.^ 

It  is  difficult  to  explain  this  case  except  on  the 
supposition  that  the  dying  girl's  dream  was  some- 
how impressed  upon  the  mind  of  the  watcher  by 
the  bedside ;  and  the  possibility  of  a  similar  ex- 
planation cannot,  of  course,  be  precluded  when  the 
figure  seen  is  that  of  the  dead. 

In  the  following  narrative  several  figures  are  re- 
ported to  have  been  seen,  some  recognised  as  those 
of  the  dead  or  the  living,  some  unrecognised  by 
any  of  those  present.  The  case  was  sent  to  us  by 
Mrs.  H.  J.  Wilson,  an  Associate  of  the  Society,  of 
12  Cheyne  Court,  Chelsea,  London,  S.  W.,  who  is 
intimately  acquainted  with  all  the  witnesses.  We 
are  requested  to  print  their  initials  only,  but  the 
full  names  have  been  given  to  us.     Mrs.  C,  the 

'  See  my  Apparitions  and  Thought  Transference,  p.  306. 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  237 

medium  mentioned,  is  not  a  professional  medium, 
but  a  friend  of  the  other  ladies. 

The  incident  took  place  in  May,  1904,  and  the 
first  account  we  give  is  copied  from  a  letter  written 
shortly  afterwards  by  Mrs.  A.  to  Mrs.  Wilson,  as 
follows  : 

No.  54.     From  Mrs.  A.' 

It  was  in  my  bedroom  at  B ,  Switzerland.     Mrs.  C 

was  the  medium.  She  was  seated  facing  the  long  mirror  in 
my  wardrobe,  and  we,  that  is  C.  [Mrs.  P.,  sister  of  Mrs.  A.], 
A.   [the  daughter  of  Mrs.   A.],   Mrs.   H.,  and   myself,  were 

seated  just  behind  her,  also  facing  the  mirror.     Mrs.  C 

was  not  in  trance.  In  a  very  short  time  we  saw  my  father's 
face  form  over  Mrs.  C.'s  face  (in  the  mirror),  and  then  S.'s 
face,  two  or  three  times  following.  She  was  smiling  and  look- 
ing hard  at  us,  her  two  sisters.  Then  she  faded  away,  and  a 
long  corridor  came,  with  a  large  hall  or  room  at  the  end  of  it, 
brilliantly  lighted  up.  Many  figures  were  walking  about,  but 
my  figure  and  E.'s  [Mrs.  A.'s  son]  were  most  prominent — 
there  was  no  mistaking  them.  I  recognised  my  own  figure 
walking  about,  and  leaning  forward  to  talk.  That  was  all,  as 
it  was  rather  late,  and  time  to  go  to  bed. 

S.,  the  sister  of  Mrs.  A.  and  Mrs.  P.,  had  died  in 
March,  1904  ;  E.,  the  son  of  Mrs.  A.,  was  living  at 
the  time,  and  in  London. 

The  account  of  the  other  sister,  Mrs.  P.,  was 
dictated  by  her  to  Mrs.  Wilson,  and  sent  to  us  en- 
closed in  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Wilson,  dated  October 
3rd,  1904.      It  is  as  follows  : 

It  was  at  B ,   about   May   ist,  1904,  at   8.30  p.m.     The 

electric  light  was  full  on  all  the  time,  shaded  only  by  a  piece 
of  silver  tissue  paper.     There  were  present  Mrs.  C (the 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  February,  1905,  pp.  17-19. 


238  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

medium),  Mrs.  A ,  A.,  Mrs.  H ,  and  myself.      Mrs.  C. 

sat  in  front  of  a  mirror,  Mrs.  A.  and  I  sat  just  behind  her,  and 
the  other  two  to  right  and  left  of  us  respectively.  Behind  us 
was  the  bedroom  wall,  and  a  washing  stand  against  that,  with 
a  small  mirror  over  it.     The  medium  was  not  entranced.     I 

saw  S 's  face  form  on  Mrs.  C 's  face,  followed  by  that 

of  old  Mrs.  P .     Then  came  a   full-length  figure  of  my 

father  in  the  mirror,  in  his  robes,  very  like  the  portrait.  He 
looked  benignant  and  rested,  with  lines  of  face  much  smoothed 
away.  This  faded,  and  then  all  perceived  a  long  passage  in 
the  mirror,  at  a  guess,  about  25  feet  long,  with  bay  window  at 
the  end,  and  sunshine  streaming  through.  There  was  a  win- 
dow seat,  and  two  figures  standing  by  it,  unrecognisable. 
Then  a  third  figure  appeared,  also  unrecognisable.  They 
seemed  to  look  out  of  window  and  converse.  Medium  then 
became  tired. 

The  next  account,  written  in  October,  1904,  is 
from  Miss  A.,  and  is  as  follows : 

Mother,  Mrs.  C ,  Aunt  C [Mrs.  P.],  another  lady, 

and  myself,  were  all  seated  in  front  of  a  large  pier  glass,  Mrs. 

C (the  medium)  being  slightly  nearer  the  glass   (say  3 

inches)  than  the  rest  of  us.  The  gas  was  turned  down  to 
about  half  its  strength.  Presently,  after  sitting  ten  minutes  or 
so,  we  saw  what  appeared  to  be  a  white  mist  rising  up  in  front 
of  the  medium's  reflection,  and  it  finally  resolved  into  a  good 
and  distinct  likeness  of  Grandad.  When  we  recognised  it  the 
figure  smiled  and  nodded  its  head.  Then  a  likeness  of  Aunt 
S appeared,  not  so  distinct,  but  perfectly  easy  of  recogni- 
tion, after  which  a  lady  appeared  unknown  to  four  of  us,  but 
recognised  by  the  lady  who  was  sitting  with  us. 

For  a  time  we  saw  nothing  but  mist  again,  but  it  gradually 
cleared,  and  a  long  corridor  became  visible  with  a  door  at  the 
further  end  evidently  opened  inwards,  and  screened  on  the 
side  nearest  us  by  looped  curtains,  through  which  we  saw  into 
a  brilliantly  lighted  room,  whether  bright  sunlight  or  artificial 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  239 

light  we  could  not  tell.  Figures  too  distant  to  be  recognised 
came  and  went  in  the  room,  and  once  a  girl  in  what  appeared 
to  be  bridal  dress  stood  just  behind  the  opening  of  the  cur- 
tain. Then  the  doors  appeared  to  be  shut  for  a  time,  but 
presently  opened,  and  two  figures  pushed  aside  the  curtains 
and  came  down  the  corridor  towards  us  talking.  We  recog- 
nised them  as  Mother  and  E .     Then  the  picture  faded 

again,  and  we  closed  the  sitting.  This  is  to  the  best  of  my 
recollection,  but  as  I  took  no  notes  at  the  time,  I  may  easily 
have  forgotten  details. 

In  answer  to  further  questions  Miss  A.  writes  : 

October  14th,  1904. 

The  likenesses  were  formed  on  Mrs.  C 's  image  in  the 

glass,  as  it  were,  transforming  her  features  into  those  of  the 
persons  represented.  Her  own  face,  as  distinct  from  the  im- 
age, was  unchanged,  except  that  the  eyes  were  closed,  while 
the  faces  in  the  glass  all  had  their  eyes  open.  This  is  an  in- 
teresting point,  I  think. 

The  fourth  witness,  Mrs.  H.,  dictated  her  account 
to  Mrs.  Wilson  in  the  early  part  of  November, 
1 904,  as  follows  : 

I  first  saw  the  head  and  shoulders  of  an  old  clergyman  with 
grey  hair — no  beard  ;  he  wore  the  old-fashioned  "  Geneva 
bands  "  that  the  clergy  used  to  wear.     I  did  not  recognise 

him,  but  heard  Mrs.  P and  Mrs.  A say  it  was  their 

father.  I  did  not  see  him  on  the  medium's  face,  but  in  a 
corner  of  the  mirror,  apart  from  the  medium.     I  also  heard 

Mrs.  P and  Mrs.  A say  that  they  saw  their  sister,  but 

I  did  not  see  her.  After  this  we  saw  a  ball-room  in  the  mir- 
ror, very  brightly  lighted,  with  people  walking  about  in  it.  I 
did  not  recognise  any  of  them.  I  ought  to  have  said  that  at 
first  I  saw  a  curtain  across  the  room,  and  it  was  when  it  was 
withdrawn  that  I  saw  the  people  walking  about. 

The  room  we  were  sitting  in  was  lighted  by  a  candle. 


240  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

This  curious  case  is  unique  in  our  collection. 
But  it  is  clearly  analogous  to  a  crystal  vision ;  and 
we  have,  as  already  indicated,  one  or  two  cases  of 
collective  vision  in  a  crystal.  All  the  accounts  are 
fairly  recent,  and  they  present,  it  will  be  seen,  a 
general  agreement.  There  are  indeed  certain  dis- 
crepancies, especially  as  to  the  lighting  of  the 
room,  which  is  diversely  described  as  electric  light, 
gas,  and  a  candle.  There  are  differences  too  in  the 
description  of  the  persons  seen,  but  these  may  have 
been  due  to  differences  in  the  details  of  the  visions 
actually  seen  by  the  percipients.  It  is  stated  that 
Mrs.  C,  the  medium,  kept  her  eyes  closed  and  did 
not  speak  at  all  throughout  the  sitting.  But  the 
other  ladies  described  to  each  other  what  they 
were  seeing,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  several 
visions  may  have  been  by  this  means  brought  into 
closer  conformity.  It  is  difficult  to  suppose,  how- 
ever, that  the  whole  of  the  scenes  described  origin- 
ated in  the  verbal  suggestion  of  one  of  those 
present.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  accounts 
do  not  give  more  precise  details  as  to  the  nature 
and  relative  position  of  the  light ;  it  seems  possible 
that  shadows  or  reflections  on  the  surface  of  the 
mirror  may  have  formed  a  basis  upon  which  the 
complex  scenes  described  could  be  built  up,  un- 
der the  joint  influence  of  verbal  and  telepathic 
suggestion. 

In  the  next  case,  again,  we  cannot  altogether  ex- 
clude the  influence  of  verbal  suggestion  ;  since  the 
apparition    remained    visible    for    an    appreciable 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  241 

length  of  time ;  and  the  percipients  discussed  as 
they  approached  it  the  nature  of  the  appearance. 
Moreover,  though  the  accounts  here  given  are 
stated  to  have  been  written  independently,  it  is 
probable  that  in  the  interval  of  some  years  which 
elapsed  before  the  incident  was  committed  to 
writing  the  details  were  fully  discussed  by  the 
percipients,  and  the  remarkable  uniformity  in  their 
descriptions  should  not  therefore  be  given  undue 
weight. 

It  is  a  point  of  interest  in  the  case  that  the 
scene  of  the  apparition  was  the  park  attached  to 
an  Elizabethan  Manor  House,  in  which  several 
"ghosts"  had  been  seen  in  a  period  covering  some 
years.  The  figure  seen  in  the  present  case,  how- 
ever, bore  no  resemblance  to  any  of  the  ghostly 
figures  seen  in  the  house  itself.  One  of  the  percip- 
ients. Miss  Eglantine  Russell,  had  on  several  oc- 
casions seen  hallucinatory  figures  (a  dog  and  a 
human  form)  in  the  house. 

No.  55,    From  Miss  Eglantine  Russell* 

August,  1904. 
On  December  22nd,  1897,  I  was  walking  through  the  fields 
near  the  house  with  my  sisters,  Edith  and  Rose  (both  older 
than  myself).  It  was  quite  a  sunny  afternoon,  between  three 
and  four  o'clock.  Resting  at  a  fence  we  stopped  to  talk, 
myself  sitting  on  the  top  railing,  the  others  standing  below. 
Looking  across  the  corner  of  the  field  by  an  oak  tree  in  the 
fence,  I  remember  seeing  an  object,  but  listening  to  the  others 
talking,  I  didn't  take  much  notice  whether  it  was  man,  horse, 

^Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  April,  1907,  pp.  62,  63.    All  the  names  are  assumed,  as 
it  is  not  thought  desirable  that  the  locality  should  be  identified. 
16 


242  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

or  cow.  Presently  Rose,  looking  up,  said,  "  There  's  one  of 
the  boys,"  looking  across  in  the  same  direction.  "Yes,"  I 
replied,  "I  thought  I  saw  them,"  "No,  it  is  n't,"  Rose  con- 
tinued ;  "  it 's  a  man.  Who  is  it,  I  wonder  ?  Who  can  be 
wandering  about  up  here?  We  'd  better  go  and  see."  We 
started  for  the  other  hedge,  which  was,  I  should  think,  about 
50  yards  distant.  We  had  a  fox  terrier  with  us  ;  he  growled, 
and  his  ruff  stood  up,  and  he  refused  to  come,  I  cannot  now 
remember  whether  my  sister  Edith  walked  across  with  us,  or, 
being  nervous,  stayed  by  the  fence.  My  impression  is  she 
came,  but  a  trifle  behind  Rose  and  myself.  Walking  closer,  I 
saw  that  it  was  a  man,  hanging  apparently  from  an  oak  tree  in 
front  of  some  railings  over  a  ditch.  He  was  dressed  in  brown 
rather  brighter  than  the  colour  of  brown  holland  ;  he  did  not 
seem  to  have  a  regular  coat,  but  more  of  a  loose  blouse.  One 
thing  I  most  distinctly  recall  is  his  heavy  clumsy  boots.  His 
face  we  could  not  see  ;  there  was  something  white  over  it. 
The  head  hung  forward,  and  the  arms  drooped  forward  too. 
Coming  within  about  15  yards  I  saw  the  shadow  of  the  railings 
through  him,  one  bar  across  the  shoulders,  one  bar  about  his 
waist,  and  one  almost  at  his  knees,  quite  distinct,  but  faint.  I 
have  a  remembrance  of  a  big,  very  black  shadow  in  the  back- 
ground. At  about  15  yards  the  whole  thing  disappeared 
absolutely.  We  went  to  the  railing  and  looked  over  a  clear 
field  beyond,  which  would  give  no  possible  cover  to  any  one 
trying  to  hide.  Walking  back  to  where  we  had  first  seen  it  we 
saw  nothing  but  an  oak  tree  by  railings  in  a  fence.  While  I 
saw  it  my  only  feeling,  I  remember,  was  intense  curiosity  to 
see  what  it  was, — one  seemed  impelled  to  go  forward  ;  after- 
wards, sickening  terror. 

This  is  some  years  ago,  but  writing  brings  it  all  back  to  me. 
There  may  be  some  details  I  have  forgotten  ;  but  this  is  the 
account  as  it  stands  clearly  in  my  mind. 

Miss  Edith  Russell  (now  Mrs.  Shaw)  writes : 

I  am  writing  down  exactly  what  I  saw,  in  conjunction  with 
my  two  sisters. 


Phantasms  of  the  Dead  243 

It  was  on  Dec,  23rd,  1897  (?).  We  were  walking  across 
some  fields  to  meet  my  brothers  who  were  out  shooting  with  a 
neighbour.  We  stopped  to  wait  for  them,  and  sat  on  a  fence 
half  way  across  a  field  about  80  or  90  yards  wide.  My  young- 
est sister  suddenly  remarked  that  there  was  a  man  looking  over 
the  fence  at  the  far  end  of  the  field.  I  made  some  answer  as 
to  its  probably  being  one  of  the  boys.  Presently  my  other 
sister  said,  "  There  is  a  man  there,"  or  words  to  that  effect,  and 
I  looked  up,  and  distinctly  saw  what  looked  like  a  man  leaning 
over  the  fence.  We  then  said  we  would  find  out  what  it  was, 
and  all  three  walked  in  a  row  towards  the  figure.  When  within 
about  20  yards,  my  youngest  sister  said,  "  Look  at  his  legs  !  " 
I  remarked  to  my  other  sister,  "  What  is  it  ?  I  don't  like  it." 
We  walked  on,  after  having  said  we  would  report  to  each 
other  what  we  saw,  as  we  went.  This  is  what  we  all  three 
saw  :  a  man's  figure  hanging  from  a  branch  of  an  oak  tree,  his 
arms  and  legs  dangling  apparently  helplessly,  and  his  head 
hung  forward,  but  it  was  covered  with  something  white.  We 
could  see  the  railings  which  ran  behind  the  oak  tree  through 
the  figure.  When  we  got  within  10  yards,  my  sister  said, 
"  Why,  it  's  gone."  We  stopped  and  looked,  and  there  was 
nothing  to  be  seen  but  the  oak  tree  and  fence.  It  was  a  very 
bright  sunny  afternoon;  there  was  a  little  snow  on  the  ground. 

One  thing  struck  us  as  odd,  for  between  the  sun  and  the  oak 
tree  was  a  great  black  shadow,  which  we  could  not  account 
for,  as  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events  the  shadow  would  be 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  tree  to  where  the  sun  was. 

This  is  absolutely  true,  and  I  have  put  it  down  just  as  I 
remember  it. 

The  mother  of  the  two  ladles,  in  enclosing  the 
above  accounts,  stated  that  they  were  written  in- 
dependently of  each  other.  She  adds  that  the 
third  daughter  is  unwilling  to  write  down  her  ver- 
sion ;  but  Mrs. furnishes  her  own  recollection 

of  what  she  heard  from  this  daughter  at  the  time. 


244  Phantasms  of  the  Dead 

Her  account  corresponds  with  those  given  above. 

Mrs. adds  that  there  is  a  vague  legend  that 

some  one  was  murdered  somewhere  near.  There 
is  nothing,  however,  to  throw  any  light  upon  the 
origin  of  the  curious  vision.  It  appears,  however, 
from  all  three  accounts  that  the  first  person  to  see 
the  apparition  was  Miss  Eglantine,  the  only  one  of 
the  sisters  who  appears  to  have  seen  any  of  the 
ghostly  figures  in  the  house.  On  the  hypothesis 
that  the  vision  was  a  hallucination  self-engendered 
in  the  mind  of  one  of  the  percipients,  we  may  assume, 
therefore,  that  it  originated  with  Miss  Eglantine. 


CHAPTER  XI 

HAUNTED    HOUSES 

IN  the  last  chapter  we  have  dealt  with  messages 
from  the  dead  of  a  personal  character.  The 
dream  or  vision  has  represented  some  one  known 
when  alive  to  the  dreamer,  and  on  familiar  terms 
with  him.^  The  cause  of  the  percipience — the 
reason  why  the  vision  was  seen  by  that  particular 
person,  and  not  by  the  man  in  the  street — must  in 
the  cases  hitherto  considered  be  sought  in  the 
bonds  of  personal  affection  or  relationship.  And 
the  same  principle  applies  to  the  messages  from 
the  living  dealt  with  in  the  earlier  chapters  of  this 
book.  The  apparition  of  the  dying  man  is  seen  as 
a  rule  by  some  one  amongst  his  closest  friends. 
But  even  in  the  case  of  apparitions  of  the  dying 
we  find  some  records,  relatively  few,  but  still  too 
numerous  to  be  summarily  dismissed,  in  which  the 
tie  between  the  dying  man  and  the  percipient 
was  not  one  of  affection  or  blood,  but  apparently 
of  locality.  Several  cases  have  been  published  in 
Phantasms  of  the  Living,  in  which  the  figure  of 
the  dying  man  or  woman  was  seen  in  the  house 

'  Case  No.  55  is,  of  course,  an  exception. 
245 


246  Haunted  Houses 

of  an  Intimate  friend,  but  seen  by  a  comparative 
stranger.^ 

The   following  case  amongst  our  more   recent 
records  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  type  : 
No.  56.    From  Mrs.  Benecke* 

Mr.  E.  F.  M.  Benecke,  an  Exhibitioner  of  Balliol 
College,  Oxford,  was  a  good  Alpine  climber,  and 
was  at  the  time  of  his  death  collaborating  in  a 
Guide  to  the  Swiss  Alps.  On  the  i6th  July,  1895, 
he  started  with  a  friend,  Mr.  Cohen,  at  3  o'clock 
A.  M.,  from  Ried  for  a  short  climb,  and  was  never 
seen  again.  On  the  early  afternoon  of  that  day  he 
was  seen  with  a  companion  walking  in  his  mother's 
garden  in  England.  The  percipient  was  Ellen 
Carter,  now  Mrs.  Nichols,  a  daughter  of  Mrs. 
Benecke's  laundress,  who  has  written  the  following 
account  at  the  request  of  Mrs.  Benecke : 

80  Mayes  Road,  Wood  Green, 

February  1st,  1897. 

On  Tuesday,  July  i6th,  1895,  between  the  hours  of  i  and  2 
o'clock,  I  was  doing  some  work  in  our  bedroom  and,  looking 
out  of  the  window,  saw  (as  I  thought)  Mr.  Edward  Benecke 
with  another  young  gentleman  walking  in  the  garden,  and  I 
went  at  once  to  mother  and  told  her  Mr.  Edward  had  come 
home,  and  she  said  something  must  have  prevented  him  from 
starting,  as  we  knew  he  was  going  to  Switzerland  for  his  holiday 
for  I  was  positive  it  was  him  I  saw.  When  nurse  came  in  on 
the  Thursday,  mother  asked  her  if  Mr.  Edward  had  come 
home,  and  she  said  "  No,"  and  then  we  only  said,  "  I  thought 
I  saw  him,"  and  we  thought  no  more  about  it  until  the  sad 
news  reached  us. 

•  See,  e.g.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  524,  559  ;  ii.,  pp.  40,  57,  61,  613. 
2  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  March,  1S97. 


Haunted  Houses  247 

In  answer  to  some  questions  from  Mrs.  Bcnecke, 
Mrs.  Nichols  writes  further  : 

80  Mayes  Road,  Wood  Green,  February  4th,  1897. 

Madam, — I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  answer  the  questions  you 
have  asked  me.  I  did  see  another  young  man  with  Mr.  Ed- 
ward (as  I  thought  it  was)  and  the  look  was  not  momentary, 
for  I  was  so  surprised  to  see  him  that  I  watched  him  until  he 
turned  round  the  path;  he  was  coming,  as  he  sometimes  did 
after  luncheon,  from  the  stable  yard,  along  the  path  and 
turned  towards  the  house.  He  was  smiling  and  talking  to  his 
friend,  and  I  particularly  noticed  his  hair,  which  was  wavy  as 
it  always  was  ;  he  had  nothing  on  his  head.  It  was  all  that 
that  made  me  feel  so  sure  it  was  him,  and  I  felt  that  I  could 
not  have  been  mistaken,  knowing  him  so  well.  I  cannot  tell 
you  anything  [about]  what  the  other  young  gentleman  was 
like,  as  he  was  walking  on  the  other  side  ;  also  I  hardly  noticed 
him  at  all,  being  so  surprised  to  see  Mr.  Edward.  Mother 
was  doubtful  when  I  told  her  about  it  and  said  I  must  be 
mistaken ;  but  I  said  I  was  sure  I  was  not,  and  I  was  positive 
I  had  seen  him,  and  I  felt  sure  he  had  come  home  until  nurse 
came  in  and  said  he  had  not  been  home,  and  then  I  thought 
how  strange  it  was,  and  even  then  I  could  not  think  I  was  so 
mistaken,  and  often  have  I  thought  about  it  and  feel  even 
now  that  it  was  him  I  saw.  Mother  did  say  perhaps  some 
accident  had  happened  to  his  friend  that  he  was  to  travel  with 
and  so  was  prevented  from  going ;  that  was  the  only  remark 
that  was  made  about  an  accident. 

If  there  is  any  other  question  I  can  answer,  I  shall  be  only 
too  glad  to  do  it  for  you,  E.  Nichols. 

Mrs.  Benecke  gives  the  following  particulars  : 

Teddy  was  in  the  habit  of  walking  regularly  in  the  garden, 
from  10  minutes  past  12  till  i  o'clock,  and  again  directly  after 
luncheon,  varying,  according  to  the  time  this  meal  took  us, 
from  1.30  or  1.45  till  2.30.  He  was  so  regular  that  I  could  tell 
the  time  by  his  footfall  on  the  stairs.    He  never,  except  in  the 


248  Haunted  Houses 

very  coldest  weather — to  please  me — wore  a  hat  or  cap  in 
the  garden.  The  laundress  often  watched  him  walking  up 
and  down  the  garden  paths,  noticing  the  wind  playing  with 
his  wavy  hair.  She  even,  at  times,  would  get  up  on  a  stool  to 
watch  him,  especially  when  Margaret  was  with  him.  She  says 
they  looked  so  bright  and  happy  together.  She  has  left  us 
owing  to  her  health,  and  her  daughter  married  quite  lately. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Benecke  heard  of  the  vision  only 
after  the  news  of  the  disappearance  had  reached 
England,  on  the  20th  July. 

Here  it  would  seem  that  Mrs.  Nichols  saw  the 
apparition  because  she  happened  to  be  on  the  spot 
to  which  the  dying  man's  thoughts  would  inevitably 
turn.  And  the  obvious  interpretation  of  the  in- 
cident—  the  interpretation  which  in  fact  obtained 
generally  until  the  work  of  the  Society  for  Psychi- 
cal Research  had  familiarised  another  explanation — 
is  that  the  spirit  was  actually  present,  and  able  to 
assume  visible  shape.  How  such  a  theory  can  be 
reconciled  with  the  requirements  of  physical  science 
we  need  not  here  pause  to  consider.  The  fact  of 
the  apparition  occurring  at  that  time  and  in  that 
place  was,  it  may  be  conceded,  due  in  some  sort  to 
the  agency  of  the  man  whom  the  apparition  repre- 
sented. But  the  apparition  itself,  the  figure  seen, 
we  cannot  doubt,  was  a  dream  projected  from  the 
brain  of  the  seer.  It  would  be  impossible  to  treat 
this  case  as  differing  fundamentally  from  the  great 
mass  of  cases  reported  to  us.  And  as  already  shown, 
all  analogy  and  the  direct  testimony  of  our  own  ex- 
periments point  to  these  apparitions  being  essen- 
tially hallucinatory  in  their  nature.     The  dreamlike 


Haunted  Houses  249 

character  of  the  vision  in  this  particular  case  is  fur- 
ther indicated  by  the  occurrence  of  the  second  figure 
— a  figure  not  even  recognised  by  the  seer.  It  seems 
probable  that  this  second  figure  was  a  detail  uncon- 
sciously added  by  the  dream-consciousness  to  com- 
plete the  verisimilitude  of  the  picture,  having  in 
itself  just  as  much  or  as  little  significance  as  the 
clothes  which  the  apparition  would  appear  to  be 
wearing.  As  regards  the  explanation  of  the  ap- 
parent influence  of  locality  in  facilitating  telepathic 
impressions,  it  was  suggested  by  Edmund  Gurney 
that  the  occupation  of  the  consciousness  of  agent 
and  percipient  by  a  common  set  of  images,  the  one 
in  present  sensation,  the  other  in  memory,  may  form 
one  of  the  predisposing  conditions.  But  the  con- 
sideration of  other  similar  cases  will  perhaps  throw 
some  light  on  the  point. 

In  the  narrative  which  follows,  the  apparition 
seen  represented  a  man  who  had  been  dead  for  some 
weeks. 

No.  57.    From  Mrs.  O'Donnell  * 

5th  September,   1898. 

[Mrs.  O'Donnell  explains  that  she  had  been  residing  in 
Brighton  for  some  months  during  the  winter  of  1897-98,  and 
that  on  the  22ndof  March,  1 898,  she  moved  into  furnished  rooms, 
at  Hove.  She  felt  unwell  the  first  evening  in  the  new  rooms, 
and  was  much  disturbedat  night  by  the  sound  of  footsteps  over- 
head. On  complaining  of  this  in  the  morning,  she  learnt  that 
the  room  above  was  untenanted.  The  noises  were  repeated  on 
the  second  night,  and  Mrs.  O'Donnell  felt  too  ill  to  get  up.] 
The  third  night  I  had  a  large  fire  made  up,  and  had  a  nightlight 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  December,  iSgS,  p.  327. 


250  Haunted  Houses 

for  company.  About  11  p.m.  my  daughter  went  to  her  own 
room,  wishing  me  a  better  night.  Again  the  feeling  of  foot- 
steps overhead — so  much  so  that  a  perfect  thrill  of  terror  ran 
through  me.  I  kept  looking  towards  the  fire  for  about  an  hour, 
and  then  thought  I  should  turn  towards  the  wall,  where,  terrible 
to  relate,  a  horrible  figure  was  standing  by  my  bedside,  one 
arm  pointing  to  the  adjoining  room  (then  vacant),  and  the  other 
pointing  to  me,  quite  close  to  my  face.  I  gasped  for  breath, 
and  covered  my  face  with  the  clothes.  After  some  time  I  re- 
assured myself  it  was  all  imagination,  and  again  turned  to  where 
I  saw  the  horrid  apparition.  There  it  still  was.  I  shrieked  for 
terror,  and  called  out,  "  Oh,  my  God,  what  is  it  ?  "  and  put  out 
my  left  hand  as  if  to  feel  if  it  was  real,  but  imagine  my  horror, 
I  was  grasped  by  the  icy  hand  of  death.  I  remember  no  more. 
.  .  .  The  figure  I  saw  was  that  of  a  rather  small  man,  very 
dark,  with  very  small  hands,  and  covered  in  a  tattered  black 
suit  from  head  to  foot,  more  like  a  scarecrow  than  anything 
human.  I  slept  in  my  daughter's  room  the  next  night,  or 
rather  occupied  it,  for  I  could  not  sleep.  Towards  the  middle 
of  the  night  the  door  opened  (I  had  locked  it).  A  small, 
dark,  gentlemanly  young  man  walked  in,  saying  :  **  Oh,  so 
you  have  the  Scotchman's  room!" — smiled  pleasantly,  and 
walked  out  of  the  room  as  he  had  come  in.  It  was  all  so 
strange  and  dreadful.  I  told  some  friends  next  day.  They 
were  greatly  startled,  and  said:  *'  Can  this  be  the  house  where 
the  suicide  happened  a  few  weeks  ago  ? "  I  at  once  called  up 
the  landlady.  She  denied  it,  saying  it  was  next  door.  I  was 
determined  to  find  out,  and  on  sending  to  the  various  trades- 
people with  whom  we  dealt,  found  it  was  the  very  house.  The 
landlady  then  admitted  it.  The  poor  young  man  had  slept  in 
my  bedroom,  and  the  adjoining  room  (to  which  he  had  pointed) 
was  his  sitting-room,  from  the  window  of  which  he  threw  him- 
self out.  He  was  killed  on  the  spot.  The  landlady's  son 
waited  on  us  at  table.  On  investigating  the  matter  with  him 
and  his  mother  afterwards,  I  found  his  description  of  the  poor 
young  fellow  corresponded  with  the  apparition  I  saw.  He  was 
four-and-twenty,  rather  small,  and  very  dark.     He  had  had  bad 


Haunted  Houses  251 

bronchitis,  and  became  depressed.  On  the  morning  of  his 
death  he  got  up  rather  early,  saying  he  felt  better,  and  when  his 
family  left  him  he  immediately  opened  his  window,  and  threw 
himself  out.  He  fell  from  a  second-floor  window  into  the  area. 
His  clothes  were  torn  to  pieces  as  he  fell.  On  inquiry  as  to 
the  Scotchman's  room,  the  landlady  told  me  a  young  Scotch 
gentleman  (now  in  the  service)  had  occupied  our  drawing-room 
and  that  bedroom  which  I  changed  to — and  that  he  was  a  great 
friend  of  the  poor  young  fellow  who  had  ended  his  life  in  such 
a  dreadful  manner.  The  landlady  also  admitted  she  would 
not  go  up-stairs  after  dark  alone,  so  she  also  must  have  con- 
sidered the  house  haunted.  I  can  certify  all  I  have  stated  is 
strictly  true. 

We  have  ascertained  from  a  local  paper  that  the 
suicide  took  place  as  above  described,  at  the  end 
of  January,  1898.  The  deceased  was  twenty-four 
years  old. 

Mrs.  O'Donnell  states  that  she  had  not  heard  of 
the  suicide,  and,  indeed,  the  fact  that  she  took  the 
rooms  is  sufficient  proof  that  she  had  not  connected 
the  tragedy  with  this  particular  house.  It  is  per- 
haps conceivable  that  the  vision  may  have  been  due 
to  the  revival  of  a  forgotten  memory  of  the  news- 
paper report.  In  any  single  case  of  the  kind  it  is 
no  doubt  possible,  without  violent  straining  of  the 
probabilities,  to  find  a  normal  explanation  of  the 
incident.  But  there  are  in  our  collection  many 
cases  of  a  similar  type.  Thus  Mr.  John  Husbands, 
sleeping  in  a  hotel  at  Madeira,  awoke  one  night  to 
see  a  young  man  in  flannels  standing  at  the  side  of 
his  bed.  He  saw  the  features  quite  plainly.  Later 
he  learnt  that  a  young  man  had  died  of  consump- 
tion in  that  room  about  twelve  months  previously  ; 


252  Haunted  Houses 

and  in  a  photograph  of  the  deceased  he  recognised 
the  features  of  the  apparition.^ 

Again,  a  lady  taking  an  afternoon  nap  in  her 
bedroom  on  the  day  of  her  arrival  at  the  Convent 
of  St.  Quay,  Pontrieux,  was  awakened  to  see  a 
venerable  priest  kneeling  at  the  side  of  her  bed. 
The  figure  rose,  blessed  her,  and  then  vanished. 
On  telling  her  story  she  learnt  that  no  man  was  on 
the  premises,  but  from  her  description  the  figure 
was  recognised  as  that  of  the  Bishop  of  St.  Brieuc, 
who  was  in  the  habit  of  staying  in  this  particular 
room  when  he  visited  the  Convent.  The  funeral 
of  the  Bishop  was  taking  place  about  sixteen  miles 
off  that  same  afternoon.^ 

When  all  allowance  has  been  made  for  coinci- 
dence, the  effect  of  unconscious  suggestion,  and  for 
the  almost  inevitable  embellishments,  from  which 
the  narrators  are  not  withheld  in  a  case  of  this  kind 
by  any  sense  of  personal  sacredness  in  their  exper- 
ience, we  find  it  difficult  to  resist  the  conclusion 
that  these  apparitions  are  in  some  fashion  connected 
with  the  dead  persons  whom  they  purport  to  repre- 
sent. Of  the  nature  of  that  connection  it  is  not 
easy  to  form  even  a  plausible  guess.  As  Mr. 
Gurney  says  of  one  case  of  the  kind,  the  vision  fre- 


^  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R..  vol.  v.,  p.  416. 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  v.,  p.  460.  For  other  cases  of  the  type  see 
Mr.  Myers's  list  (ibid.,  p.  473).  And  for  some  recent  instances  see  Miss 
Atkins's  narrative  {Journal,  April,  1894)  ;  the  figure  of  a  priest  seen  at  Cos- 
tessey  Park  by  Lady  Bedingfield  {Journal,  May,  1899)  ;  Miss  Bedford's 
case  {Journal,  July,  1905)  ;  Mrs.  Verrall'scase  {Journal,  July,  1906).  The 
figure  seen  in  the  last  case  was  afterwards  recognised  from  a  portrait. 


Haunted  Houses  253 

quently  suggests  "  not  so  much  anything  associated 
with  the  popular  idea  of  haunting,  or  any  continu- 
ing local  interest  on  the  part  of  the  deceased  per- 
son, as  the  survival  of  a  mere  image,  impressed  we 
cannot  guess  how,  on  we  cannot  guess  what,  by 
that  person's  physical  organism,  and  perceptible  at 
times  to  those  endowed  with  some  cognate  form 
of  sensitiveness."  ^ 

Mr.  Gurney  suggests,  it  will  be  seen,  the  agency 
in  some  fashion  of  the  dead.  But  we  are  not  neces- 
sarily led  to  such  an  explanation.  The  old  notion 
that  a  ghost  was  actually  the  spirit  of  the  deceased 
person  himself  was  inextricably  bound  up  with  the 
assumption  that  the  figure  seen  had  a  material  or 
objective  reality.  If  we  admit  that  the  thing  seen 
is  but  a  dream  figure,  it  becomes  natural  to  endeav- 
our to  trace  its  source  to  an  agency  of  whose  opera- 
tion we  have  independent  proof — that  is,  thought 
transference  from  the  living. 

May  not  this  ancient  room  thou  sitt'st  in  dwell 
In  separate  living  souls  for  joy  or  pain  ? 

Is  it  not  conceivable,  for  instance,  that  the  vision 
seen  by  Mrs.  O'Donnell  may  have  originated  in 
the  minds  of  the  bereaved  relatives?  that  the  ap- 
parition of  the  Bishop  of  St.  Brieuc  may  have  been 
evoked  by  the  grief  of  the  sorrowing  nuns  ?  At 
any  rate,  while  such  a  possibility  exists,  we  are 
unable  to  regard  these  fugitive  phantoms  as  sure 
indications  of  the  presence  of  the  dead. 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  v.,  p.  417. 


254  Haunted  Houses 

More  difficult  to  explain  on  any  hypothesis  are 
those  cases  in  which  dreams  and  other  psychical 
disturbances  are  connected  with  the  presence  of 
human  remains.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  cases 
of  the  kind  is  the  following. 

No.  58.     From  the  "  Banffshire  Journal"  * 

30th  January,  1872. 

A  most  unusual  and  extraordinary  occurrence  has  excited 
considerable  interest  in  the  district  around  Banff  during  the 
past  few  days,  the  chain  of  circumstances  leading  to  which 
we  are  in  a  position  to  relate  authoritatively. 

William  Moir  is  grieve  at  the  farm  of  Upper  Dallachy,  in 
the  Parish  of  Boyndie,  about  three  and  a  half  miles  west  of 
Banff  and  a  mile  west  of  the  fishing  village  of  Whitehills.  Moir 
is  an  intelligent,  steady,  and  modest  man,  35  years  of  age,  and 
married.  Shortly  after  Whit  Sunday  last,  he  dreamed  that, 
on  a  particular  spot  near  the  farm  of  Dallachy,  he  saw  lying 
a  dead  body  with  blood  upon  the  face.  The  dream  was  so 
vivid  that  every  point  connected  with  it  was  deeply  impressed 
upon  his  memory.  The  spot  on  which  he  dreamed  he  saw 
the  body  lie  was  a  slight  mound  on  the  sloping  ground  which 
bounds  the  farm  and  stretches  to  the  seaside,  and  about  six- 
teen feet  from  the  high-water  mark.  For  a  time  after  the 
dream,  Moir  did  not  think  much  about  it  ;  but  the  idea  of  the 
dead  man  afterwards  haunted  him  and  he  could  not  exclude 
it  from  his  mind.  By-and-bye  the  matter  took  so  firm  a  hold 
upon  his  thoughts  that  never  was  he  a  moment  unoccupied 
but  the  idea  and  the  vision  returned  to  him. 

[In  July,  187 1,  Moir  assisted  to  carry  the  body  of  a  drowned 
man  from  the  sea  across  the  very  spot  indicated  in  his  dream. 
When  a  few  yards  from  the  spot,  Moir's  companion  slipped, 
and  the  body  fell  to  the  ground.  Moir  at  the  time  saw  in 
this  incident  the  fulfilment  of  his  dream.] 

Still,  however,  the  vision  of  the  dream  came  back  upon  the 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  35,  36. 


Haunted  Houses  255 

man.  He  could  not  go  out  walking  or  sit  down  at  home  in 
the  evening  without  the  recollection  coming  before  his  mind. 
Indeed,  he  began  to  think  that  his  intellect  was  being  affected, 
and  he  was  conscious  of  becoming  taciturn,  morose,  and 
absent.  The  disagreeable  feeling  continued  to  increase  in 
intensity,  and,  during  last  week,  it  became  positively  painful. 

[On  Thursday  afternoon  he  left  the  house  with  the  intention 
of  proceeding  to  a  part  of  the  farm  remote  from  the  sea.] 

While  Moir  was  on  the  way  from  the  house,  the  idea  of  his 
dream  occurred  to  him  with  such  intense  vividness  that  he 
turned  and  went  back  to  the  house.  Saying  nothing  to  any 
one  in  the  house,  he  took  a  spade,  and  walked  direct  to  the 
spot  of  which  he  had  so  distinct  a  recollection  in  connection 
with  his  dream,  and  removed  a  little  of  the  turf  from  the  sur- 
face. After  he  had  done  so,  he  put  the  spade  down  its  full 
length  into  the  ground  and  lifted  up  the  earth.  In  the  spade- 
ful of  earth,  however,  there  was  an  entire  human  skull.  The 
man  was  not  at  all  affected  by  the  appearance  of  the  skull, 
the  idea  in  his  mind  being  that  the  turning-up  of  the  skull  was 
nothing  more  than  what  was  to  have  been  expected.  He  took 
other  spadefuls  of  earth,  and  brought  up  the  lower  jaw  with 
teeth,  followed  by  the  shoulder  bones,  and,  digging  farther 
along,  dug  up  other  bones  of  a  human  body  as  far  as  the 
thigh.  Laying  the  bones  out  on  the  surface  of  the  ground 
just  in  the  position  he  had  found  them  buried,  he  realised 
that  he  was  digging  up  a  skeleton. 

Moir  reported  the  matter  to  the  poHce  ;  an  in- 
vestigation was  held  ;  but  nothing  was  ehcited  to 
throw  Hght  upon  the  mystery.  The  bones  were 
thought  by  the  doctors  who  examined  them  to 
have  lain  in  the  position  where  they  were  found 
for  about  forty  years.  There  was  a  local  tradition 
of  the  mysterious  disappearance  of  a  man  at  about 
that  time.  But  the  tradition  does  not  seem  to 
have  been   made  the  subject  of  precise  enquiry  ; 


256  Haunted  Houses 

and  we  have  no  grounds  for  identifying  the 
skeleton. 

Moir  died  in  1873 — the  year  following  the  dis- 
covery. But  he  had  himself  corrected  in  proof  the 
account  above  quoted  from  the  Banffshire  Journal. 
We  have  received  corroborative  testimony  from  his 
widow  of  the  profound  effect  produced  on  his  mind 
by  the  dream  before  the  discovery  of  the  skeleton. 
He  is  said  further  to  have  fallen  into  a  state  of  in- 
tense religious  depression  shortly  before  his  death. 

It  is  difficult  to  suggest  a  plausible  interpretation 
of  this  curious  incident.  If  the  bones  were  really 
forty  years  old,  it  is  not  easy  to  attribute  the 
dream  either  to  a  guilty  knowledge  on  Moir's  part, 
or  to  telepathy  from  the  person  who  had  placed 
the  skeleton  where  it  was  found.  Again,  in  view 
of  the  situation  of  the  skeleton,  hyperaesthesia 
seems  precluded.  If  we  knew  more  of  the  case, 
and,  in  particular,  if  we  had  the  opportunity  of  ex- 
amining Moir,  some  further  light  would  perhaps 
be  thrown  upon  the  mystery.  But  the  case  as  it 
stands  seems  to  point  less  ambiguously  than  most 
in  our  collection  to  the  agency  of  the  dead. 

In  another  case  of  the  kind  the  psychical  dis- 
turbance, though  very  marked,  was  not  referred  at 
the  time  to  any  definite  cause. 

No.  59.     From  Mrs.  Montague-Crackanthorpe  * 

Newbiggin  Hall,  Westmoreland,  June  nth,  1883. 
Herewith  my  "  Northamptonshire  nights" — and   days,    as 
'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  42,43- 


Haunted  Houses  257 

accurately  told  as  I  can.  But,  beyond  being  very  real  to  me, 
I  am  afraid  they  won't  avail  you  much.  For  you  see  I  heard 
nothing,  saw  nothing,  neither  did  the  maid.  I  was  startled 
when  my  father  told  me  of  the  rector's  confession  as  to  the 
"  disagreeableness  "  of  that  end  of  the  house — months  after- 
wards— but  what  made  most  impression  upon  me  was,  that 
having  battled  through  the  night  with  my  vague  terrors  suc- 
cessfully, I  could  not  sit  in  that  arm-chair,  in  the  sunshine, 
next  day,  with  the  sound  of  the  cook  singing  over  her  work 
close  at  hand. 

In  the  summer  of  1872,  my  father  occupied  a  rectory  house 
(Passenham)  not  far  from  Ellsworth,  in  Northamptonshire,  for 
a  few  weeks,  and  I  went  down  to  spend  three  days  with  him 
and  my  mother  at  Whitsuntide  ;  my  two  children  and  their 
nurse  being  already  there.  The  room  given  to  me  was  over 
the  dining-room  ;  next  door  to  it  was  the  night  nursery,  in 
which  my  nurse  and  children  slept,  the  rest  of  the  inmates  of 
the  house  being  quite  at  the  other  end  of  a  rather  long  passage. 
I  hardly  slept  at  all  the  first  (Saturday)  night,  being  possessed 
with  the  belief  that  some  one  was  in  my  room  whom  I  should 
shortly  see.  I  heard  nothing,  and  I  saw  nothing.  The  next 
morning,  Sunday,  I  did  not  go  to  church,  but  betook  myself  to 
the  dining-room  with  a  book.  It  was,  I  remember,  a  perfectly 
lovely  June  morning.  Before  I  had  been  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
in  the  room,  and  whilst  wholly  interested  in  the  book,  I  was 
seized  with  a  dread,  of  what  I  did  not  know  ;  but  in  spite  of 
the  sunshine  and  the  servants  moving  about  the  house,  I  found 
it  more  intolerable  to  sit  there  than  it  had  been  to  remain  in 
the  room  above  the  night  before,  and  so,  after  a  struggle,  and 
feeling  not  a  little  ashamed,  I  left  the  room  and  went  to  the 
garden.  Sunday  night  was  a  repetition  of  Saturday.  I  slept 
not  at  all,  but  remained  in  what  I  can  only  describe  as  a  state 
of  expectation  till  dawn,  and  very  thankfully  I  left  on  the 
Monday  afternoon.  To  my  father  and  mother  I  said  nothing 
of  my  two  bad  nights.  The  nurse  and  children  remained 
behind  for  another  week.  I  noticed  that  the  nurse  looked 
gloomy  when  I  left  her,  and  I  put   it  down  to  her  finding  the 


258  Haunted  Houses 

country  dull,  after  London,  When  she  returned  she  told  me 
that  she  hoped  she  would  never  have  to  go  to  stay  in  that  house 
again,  for  she  had  not  been  able  to  sleep  there  during  the  fort- 
night, being  each  night  the  prey  of  fears,  for  which  she  could 
not  account  in  any  way.  My  father  left  this  rectory  at  the 
end  of  the  summer  ;  and  some  time  afterwards  he  was  talking 
of  the  place  to  me,  and  mentioned  laughingly  that  before  he 
entered  it  the  rector  had  "  thought  it  right  to  let  him  know 
that  that  end  of  the  house  in  which  I  and  my  children  were 
put  up  was  said  to  be  haunted,  my  room  especially,  and  that 
several  of  his  visitors — his  sister  in  particular — had  been  much 
troubled  by  this  room  being  apparently  entered,  and  steps  and 
movements  heard  in  the  dead  of  night.  I  do  not  like  to  let 
you  come  in,"  the  rector  added,  "  without  telling  you  this, 
though  my  own  belief  in  it  is  small."  Within,  I  think,  a  year 
or  eighteen  months  at  most  of  my  father's  leaving,  the  house 
had  to  undergo  considerable  repair,  and  amongst  others,  a  new 
floor  had  to  be  laid  in  the  dining-room.  On  taking  up  the  old 
boards  four  or  five  (I  forget  which)  skeletons  were  found  close 
under  the  boarding  in  a  row,  and  also  close  to  the  hearthstone. 
Some  of  the  skulls  of  these  skeletons  were  very  peculiar  in  form. 

The  Rev.  G.  M.  Capell,  writing  from  Passenham 
Rectory,  October,  1889,  says  :  "  I  found  seven 
skeletons  in  my  dining-room  in  1874." 

Two  other  cases  of  the  kind  are  cited  in  the 
article  from  which  the  above  account  is  taken.  In 
one  case  a  feeling  of  unaccountable  horror  was  ex- 
perienced in  a  room  under  part  of  the  roof  where 
the  dried-up  body  of  a  baby  was  afterwards  found- 
In  another  case,  a  governess  and  one  of  her  girl 
pupils  saw,  independently,  a  ghostly  figure  in  a 
room  in  Mannheim  in  the  walls  of  which  a  skeleton 
had  been  discovered.  The  skeleton  had  been  re- 
moved in  the  process  of  converting  the  room  into 


Haunted  Houses  259 

a  schoolroom,  and  neither  the  governess  nor  the 
children  had  been  told  of  the  discovery.  In  another 
case  the  scene  was  a  lodging-house  in  Trumpington 
Street,  Cambridge.  Loud  and  unaccountable  noises 
had  been  heard  in  the  house  by  the  landlady,  her 
servant,  and  at  least  two  lodgers  (undergraduates). 
The  two  former  witnesses  had  also  seen  the  appari- 
tion of  a  female  figure.  Some  years  afterwards 
three  skulls,  one  that  of  a  woman,  were  found  just 
outside  the  window  of  the  dining-room,  ^ 

The  discovery  of  human  remains  in  or  near  a 
dwelling-house  in  any  civilised  country  is  in  itself 
so  rare  an  event  that  the  coincidence  in  these  cases 
is  the  more  striking.  It  is  difficult  to  doubt  that 
the  psychical  disturbances  were  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  these  gruesome  memorials  of  a  past 
tragedy.  But  the  only  normal  explanation  which 
suggests  itself  is  that  of  hypersesthesia.  Such  an 
explanation,  however,  will  scarcely  apply  even  in 
Case  58,  where  the  skeleton,  buried  in  an  open  plain 
some  distance  from  the  house  where  Moir  was 
haunted  by  his  dream,  was  not  more  than  forty 
years  old.  Of  the  skeletons  found  under  the  floor 
of  Passenham  Rectory,  six  were  of  a  primitive  type, 
and  undoubtedly  very  old.  Two  of  them  were 
sent  to  the  late  M.  de  Quatrefages,  at  Paris.  The 
seventh,  according  to  the  rector,  Mr.  Capell,  was 
of  comparatively  recent  origin  ;  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  it  was  sufficiently  recent  to  give  any 
support  to  the  hypothesis  of  hyperaesthesia. 

3  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  March,  igoi. 


26o  Haunted  Houses 

There  are  numerous  cases  in  our  collection  in 
which  mysterious  noises  have  been  heard,  and  ghostly- 
figures  seen  by  several  witnesses  in  a  particular 
house  or  locality.  But  though  such  "  haunted  " 
houses  are  fairly  common,  the  phenomena  are  un- 
fortunately inconclusive  and  extremely  dif^cult  of 
interpretation,  partly  from  defect  in  the  records, 
partly  from  the  dubious  nature  of  the  things  wit- 
nessed. It  is  seldom  possible  to  connect  the 
figures  seen  with  the  past  history  of  the  locality ; 
it  is  not  always  possible  to  say  that  the  figures 
seen  by  successive  witnesses  were  really  similar. 
But  the  fact,  which  seems  to  be  well  established, 
that  in  certain  houses  or  places  hallucinatory 
figures  have  been  seen  independently  by  several 
witnesses,  is  one  which  calls  for  explanation.  The 
noises  described  as  occurring  in  haunted  houses 
have  no  doubt  less  significance,  except  in  so  far  as 
they  indicate  a  tendency  to  nervousness  or  halluci- 
nation on  the  part  of  the  witnesses. 

In  the  case  which  follows  an  apparition  was  seen 

in  the  same  neighbourhood  on  several  occasions, 

more  than  once  by  two   persons  simultaneously. 

We  have,  I  think,  no  other  case  in  our  collection 

in  which  an  apparition  has  been  repeatedly  seen  on 

a  country  road  in  full  daylight. 

No.  60,    From  Miss  M.  W.  Scott  * 

Lessudden  House,  St.  Boswells, 

February,  1893. 

The  incident  I  am  about  to  relate  occurred  on  the  7th  of 
^Journal,    S.  P.  R.,  November,  1893. 


Haunted  Houses  261 

May,  1892,  between  five  and  six  in  the  afternoon.  Having 
gone  for  a  walk,  I  was  returning  homewards  by  a  road  in  the 
vicinity  of  St.  Boswells.  The  greater  portion  of  the  way  is 
quite  level,  but  at  one  part  a  short  incline  terminates  with  a 
sharp  corner  at  the  end.  From  the  top  of  this  eminence  the 
whole  road  is  conspicuous,  with  a  hedge  and  bank  on  either 
side.  Upon  reaching  the  specified  point,  and  finding  time 
limited,  I  thought  I  would  expedite  matters  by  running,  and 
had  not  gone  many  steps  when  I  came  to  a  sudden  halt,  for 
just  a  few  yards  beyond  I  perceived  a  tall  man  dressed  in 
black,  and  who  walked  along  at  a  moderate  pace.  Fancying 
he  would  think  mine  an  extraordinary  proceeding,  I  finally 
stopped  altogether  to  permit  of  his  getting  on  farther,  while  at 
the  same  time  watching  him  turn  the  corner  and  pass  on 
where  his  figure  was  still  distinctly  defined  between  the  hedges 
referred  to.  He  was  gone  in  a  second — there  being  no  exit 
anywhere — without  my  having  become  aware  of  it.  Greatly 
surprised,  I  then  myself  passed  the  same  corner  and  spot  where 
I  had  seen  the  man  vanish  a  few  seconds  before,  and  here,  a 
short  space  onward,  I  saw  one  of  my  sisters  standing  and  look- 
ing about  everywhere  in  a  bewildered  manner.  When  I  came 
up  to  her  I  said  :  "  Wherever  has  that  man  disappeared  to  ?  " 
and  upon  our  comparing  notes  together  it  became  evident 
that  we  had  both  experienced  a  similar  sensation  regarding  the 
stranger,  the  only  difference  being  that  I  had  seen  the  appari- 
tion on  in  front,  while  she  says  he  came  facing  her,  and  she, 
too,  had  noticed  he  vanished  almost  immediately. 

But  here  the  strangest  part  of  it  all  is  that  we  found  that 
when  the  man  became  invisible  to  her,  he  appeared  to  me  be- 
tween the  part  of  the  road  where  she  and  I  were  standing.  I 
may  also  here  add  that  at  the  time  we  saw  the  apparition 
neither  sister  knew  the  other  was  so  near. 

Our  experience  then  ended,  until  some  weeks  later,  for 
though  we  thought  the  encounter  a  strange  one,  we  did  not 
trouble  much  about  it.  Towards  the  end  of  July,  and  at  the 
same  hour  as  before,  another  sister  and  myself  were  travers- 
ing the  same  spot,  when  not  far  distant  I  observed  a  dark 


262  Haunted  Houses 

figure  approaching,  and  exclaimed  :  "  Oh,  I  do  believe  that 
is  our  man.  I  won't  remove  my  eyes  from  him  !  "  and  neither 
we  did  till  he  seemed  to  fade  away  towards  the  bank  on  our 
right.  Not  waiting  a  moment  to  consider,  each  rushed  fran- 
tically to  either  side  of  the  road,  but,  of  course,  saw  nothing 
We  questioned  some  boys  who  were  on  the  top  of  a  hay-cart 
in  the  opposite  field,  and  to  whom  the  expanse  of  road  was 
clearly  visible,  but  they  declared  no  one  had  passed  that  way. 
This  time  I  again  viewed  the  entire  figure,  while  my  sister 
only  saw  the  head  and  to  below  the  shoulders.  The  man  was 
dressed  entirely  in  black,  consisting  of  a  long  coat,  gaiters, 
and  knee-breeches,  and  his  legs  were  very  thin.  Round  his 
throat  was  a  wide  white  cravat,  such  as  I  have  seen  in  old 
pictures.  On, his  head  was  a  low-crowned  hat — the  fashion  I 
am  unable  to  describe.  His  face,  of  which  I  only  saw  the 
profile,  was  exceedingly  thin  and  deadly  pale. 

Miss  Louisa  Scott's  account  of  the  first  incident 
is  as  follows : 

As  my  sister  has  written  a  full  and  accurate  account  of  our 
extraordinary  experience  in  seeing  a  ghost  in  the  broad  day- 
light of  a  May  afternoon,  and  as  the  road  has  already  been 
described,  I  need  only  describe  very  briefly  the  appearance 
and  movements  of  the  apparition  as  I  saw  him.  The  date 
was  the  7th  of  May,  1892,  hour  about  a  quarter  before  six, 
when,  as  I  was  walking  homewards,  I  saw  advancing  towards 
me  at  an  ordinary  pace  a  tall  man,  dressed  in  black,  whom  I 
believed  to  be  a  clergyman.  I  removed  my  gaze  but  for  a 
second,  when  great  was  my  surprise  when  looking  up  again  to 
find  that  he  had  gone  from  my  sight.  The  hedge  on  either  side 
of  the  road  is  very  thick,  with  wide  fields  on  either  side  so  that 
the  man  could  not  possibly  have  sprung  over  it  without  my 
having  seen  him.  I  felt  extremely  mystified,  and  stood  for 
several  minutes,  looking  backwards  and  forwards  into  the 
fields  and  in  all  directions,  when  I  was  much  surprised  by  see- 
ing my  sister  turn  the  corner  of  a  little  incline  higher  up  the 


Haunted  Houses  263 

road  and  commence  running  down  it,  almost  immediately  com- 
ing to  a  sudden  halt,  and  I  saw  her  acting  in  the  same  way  as 
I  had  done  about  five  minutes  before.  Soon  she  walked 
onwards  again,  and  finally  turned  the  second  sharp  angle  of 
the  road  and  came  hurriedly  towards  me,  looking  very  much 
excited.  (I  had  no  idea  that  she  was  behind,  nor  did  she 
know  that  I  should  be  likely  to  be  found  in  front  of  her.)  Up- 
on coming  up  to  me  she  said,  "  Where  on  earth  is  that  man  who 
was  standing  only  about  ten  feet  from  you  ?  "  And  here,  what 
makes  it  more  striking  is  that  I  was  facing  the  tall  spectre, 
yet  could  not  see  him  when  my  sister  did.  She  was  more  fortun- 
ate than  I,  for  she  saw  the  entire  dress  of  the  man,  while  I 
only  noticed  his  long  black  coat,  the  lower  part  of  his  body  to 
me  being  invisible  ;  while  she  had  the  satisfaction  of  see- 
ing him  entirely  and  also  seeing  him  vanish,  as  she  did  not 
remove  her  eyes,  as  I  did,  from  the  first  time  of  seeing  him. 
This  is  all  I  have  seen  of  the  man,  but  to  what  I  did  see 
nothing  has  been  added  by  the  aid  of  imagination. 

(Signed)         Louisa  Scott. 

Miss  M.  W.  Scott  adds  : 

My  other  sister,  who  was  with  me  when  we  saw  the  appari- 
tion for  the  last  time,  says  that  in  the  sketch  I  sent  through 
Miss  Guthrie  it  is  narrated  what  she  saw,  and  therefore  she 
thinks  her  statement  would  be  scarcely  worth  anything,  her 
experience  being  so  slight,  as  she  only  noticed  the  head  and 
shoulders  of  the  man,  while  I,  as  before,  on  the  other  occasion, 
perceived  the  entire  dark  figure. 

We  heard  from  Miss  Scott  a  few  months  later 
that  she  had  again  seen  the  apparition  in  the  same 
place  as  before.     She  describes  it  as  follows  : 

June  14th,  1893. 
I  have  again  seen  the  ghost,  and  under  the  following  cir- 
cumstances.     On  Sunday,  last,  June  12th,  at  a  few  minutes 
before  ten  in  the  morning,  having  occasion  to  pass  that  way,  I 


264  Haunted  Houses 

perceived  far  in  front  a  dark  figure,  who  at  that  distance  was 
indistinguishable  as  to  whether  it  were  man  or  woman,  but  be- 
lieving the  person  to  be  the  latter,  and  one  I  was  acquainted 
with  and  likely  to  meet  at  that  hour,  I  determined  to  hurry  on 
and  overtake  her.  I  had  not  gone  far,  however,  when  I  soon 
discovered  it  to  be  none  other  than  the  apparition  we  had 
looked  for  and  failed  to  see  for  so  many  months.  I  did  not 
then  feel  at  all  afraid,  and,  hoping  to  get  a  nearer  inspection, 
boldly  followed,  running  in  close  pursuit;  but  here  the  strang- 
est part  of  it  all  is  that  though  he  was  apparently  walking 
slowly,  I  never  could  get  any  closer  than  within  a  few  yards, 
for  in  but  a  moment  he  setrnQd  to  Jloat  or  skim  away.  Pre- 
sently he  suddenly  came  to  a  standstill  and  I  began  to  feel  very 
much  afraid,  and  stopped  also.  There  he  was — the  tall 
spectre  dressed  as  I  have  described  before.  He  turned  round 
and  gazed  at  me  with  a  vacant  expression,  and  the  same 
pallid,  ghastly  features.  I  can  liken  him  to  no  one  I  have 
ever  seen.  While  I  stood,  he  still  looked  intently  at  me  for  a 
few  seconds,  then  resumed  his  former  position.  Moving  on  a 
few  steps  he  again  stood  and  looked  back  for  the  second  time, 
finally  fading  from  view  at  his  usual  spot  by  the  hedge  to  the 
right. 

In  a  letter  to  a  friend  dated  28th  June,  1893, 
Miss  Scott,  referring  to  the  last  appearance,  writes: 

I  have  had  a  splendid  inspection  of  his  appearance  this 
time.  He  wears  what  is  likely  to  be  black  silk  stockings  and 
shoe-buckles,  short  knee-breeches,  and  long  black  coat.  The 
hat  I  cannot  describe.  The  man  is  certainly  dressed  as  a 
clergyman  of  the  last  century,  and  we  have  an  old  picture 
in  the  house  for  which  he  might  have  sat. 

In  August,  1898,  Miss  Scott  saw  the  figure  once 
more,  but  on  this  occasion  the  sister  who  was  pre- 
sent with  her  did  not  see  it.  Miss  Scott  saw  the 
figure  again  on  the  24th  July,  and  i6th  August,  1900. 


Haunted  Houses  265 

Miss  Irvine,  a  lady  resident  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, saw  the  figure  at  4  p.m.  one  afternoon  in  the 
spring  of  1894.  Miss  Scott  tells  us  that  the  figure 
was  also  seen  in  1892  or  1893  by  two  village  girls  ; 
but  we  have  not  received  a  first-hand  account  of 
the  appearance. 

It  should  be  noted,  as  pointed  out  by  Miss  Scott 
herself,  that  the  dress  of  the  figure  on  the  two  oc- 
casions last  mentioned  seems  to  have  differed  from 
the  dress  as  seen  by  the  original  percipient.  Miss 
Scott  had  seen  a  long  coat  and  knee-breeches. 
Miss  Irvine,  in  writing  to  us,  describes  the  figure  as 
wearing  "  a  long  cloak  with  cape  and  slouched  hat, 
his  hands  in  his  coat  pockets."  No  mention  is 
made  of  knee-breeches.  The  village  girls,  accord- 
ing to  Miss  Scott,  saw  only  a  filmy  looking  sheet. 
We  may  look  upon  these  discrepancies  as  some 
testimony  to  the  accuracy  of  our  informants.  But 
in  view  of  them  we  are  hardly  justified  in  speaking 
of  the  figures  seen  by  the  several  witnesses  as  the 
same  figure.  It  will  be  seen,  from  the  descriptions 
given  by  Miss  M.  W.  Scott  and  Miss  Louisa  Scott 
of  the  first  appearance,  that  their  visions  were  not 
simultaneous,  and  that  the  successive  positions  in 
which  the  figure  was  seen  were  inconsistent  with  its 
being  a  real  figure.  It  should  perhaps  be  added 
that  there  is  a  vague  rumour  of  a  murder  having 
been  committed  in  the  neighbourhood,  but  that 
there  is  no  authentic  legend  which  throws  any  light 
upon  the  apparition. 

Space  will  not  permit  of  more  than  one  other 


266  Haunted  Houses 

example  of  this  class  of  narrative,  and  I  will  choose, 
therefore,  the  case  of  which  we  have  the  fullest 
and  most  satisfactory  record. 

The  chief  percipient  in  the  following  history 
refrained  from  mentioning  her  early  experiences 
to  any  member  of  her  family,  but  wrote  an  account 
of  them  in  contemporary  letters  to  a  friend.  It  is 
from  these  letters,  which  were  happily  preserved, 
that  Miss  "Morton's"  account,  written  in  1892,  is 
compiled.  Some  of  the  other  percipients  have 
given  first-hand  accounts  of  their  experiences,  but 
these,  as  will  be  seen,  were  written  down  some 
years  after  the  events.  Miss  **  Morton,"  who  with- 
holds her  real  name  lest  the  house  should  be  iden- 
tified and  its  value  impaired,  is  known  personally 
to  several  members  of  the  Society. 

No.  61.    From  Miss  "Morton"' 

The  house  is  a  commonplace  square  building,  dating  from 
about  i860.  Its  first  tenant  was  Mr.  S.,  whose  first  wife  died 
in  the  house  (in  August,  year  uncertain).  Mr.  S.  married 
again,  but  his  second  marriage  was  unhappy.  Both  he  and 
his  wife  took  to  drink.  In  order  to  prevent  his  second  wife 
securing  his  first  wife's  jewels,  he  had  a  secret  receptacle  con- 
structed for  them  under  the  floor  of  the  morning-room  or 
study.  In  that  room  he  died  in  July,  1876,  his  widow  dying 
in  another  part  of  England  in  September,  1878.  With  the 
exception  of  a  brief  tenancy  of  six  months,  terminated  by 
death,  the  house  appears  to  have  remained  unoccupied  from 
the  summer  of  1876  until  March,  1882,  when  it  was  taken  by 
Captain  Morton.  Neither  Captain  Morton  nor  his  wife,  an 
invalid,  ever  saw  anything  in  the  house.    The  eldest  sister,  Mrs. 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  viii.,  pp.  311-332. 


Haunted  Houses  267 

K.,  an  occasional  visitor,  saw  the  figure  on  two  or  three  occa- 
sions. Of  the  four  other  sisters,  three  at  one  time  or  another 
saw  the  ghost ;  and  so  did  the  younger  brother.  Miss  Morton, 
the  chief  percipient  and  the  recorder  of  the  case,  was  aged 
about  nineteen  at  the  time.  The  first  appearance  was  in  June, 
1882,  and  is  thus  described  by  her : 

"  I  had  gone  up  to  my  room,  but  was  not  yet  in  bed,  when 
I  heard  some  one  at  the  door,  and  went  to  it,  thinking  it  might 
be  my  mother.  On  opening  the  door,  I  saw  no  one  ;  but  on 
going  a  few  steps  along  the  passage,  I  saw  the  figure  of  a  tall 
lady,  dressed  in  black,  standing  at  the  head  of  the  stairs. 
After  a  few  moments  she  descended  the  stairs,  and  I  followed 
for  a  short  distance,  feeling  curious  what  it  could  be.  I  had 
only  a  small  piece  of  candle  and  it  suddenly  burnt  itself  out ; 
and  being  unable  to  see  more,  I  went  back  to  my  room. 

"  The  figure  was  that  of  a  tall  lady,  dressed  in  black  of  a 
soft  woollen  material,  judging  from  the  slight  sound  in  moving. 
The  face  was  hidden  in  a  handkerchief  held  in  the  right  hand. 
This  is  all  I  noticed  then ;  but  on  further  occasions  when  I 
was  able  to  observe  her  more  closely,  I  saw  the  upper  part  of 
the  left  side  of  the  forehead,  and  a  little  of  the  hair  above. 
Her  left  hand  was  nearly  hidden  by  her  sleeve  and  a  fold 
of  her  dress.  As  she  held  it  down  a  portion  of  a  widow's  cuff 
was  visible  on  both  wrists,  so  that  the  whole  impression  was 
that  of  a  lady  in  widow's  weeds.  There  was  no  cap  on  the 
head,  but  a  general  effect  of  blackness  suggests  a  bonnet, 
with  long  veil  or  a  hood. 

'*  During  the  next  two  years— from  1882  to  1884 — I  saw 
the  figure  about  half  a  dozen  times;  at  first  at  long  intervals, 
and  afterwards  at  shorter,  but  I  only  mentioned  these  appear- 
ances to  one  friend,  who  did  not  speak  of  them  to  any  one. 

"  After  the  first  time,  I  followed  the  figure  several  times 
downstairs  into  the  drawing-room,  where  she  remained  a 
variable  time,  generally  standing  to  the  right  hand  side  of  the 
bow  window.  From  the  drawing-room  she  went  along  the  pas- 
sage   towards  the  garden  door,  where  she  always  disappeared. 

"  The  first  time  I  spoke  to  her  was  on  the  29th  January, 


268  Haunted  Houses 

1884.  '  I  opened  the  drawing-room  door  softly  and  went  in, 
standing  just  by  it.  She  came  in  past  me  and  walked  to  the 
sofa  and  stood  still  there,  so  I  went  up  to  her  and  asked  her  if 
I  could  help  her.  She  moved,  and  I  thought  she  was  going  to 
speak,  but  she  only  gave  a  slight  gasp  and  moved  towards  the 
door.  Just  by  the  door  I  spoke  to  her  again,  but  she  seemed 
as  if  she  were  quite  unable  to  speak.  She  walked  into  the 
hall,  then  by  the  side  door  she  seemed  to  disappear  as  before.' 
(Quoted  from  a  letter  written  on  January  31st.)  In  May  and 
June,  1884,  I  tried  some  experiments,  fastening  strings  with 
marine  glue  across  the  stairs  at  different  heights  from  the 
ground — of  which  I  give  a  more  detailed  account  later  on. 

"  I  also  attempted  to  touch  her,  but  she  always  eluded  me. 
It  was  not  that  there  was  nothing  there  to  touch,  but  that  she 
always  seemed  to  be  beyond  me,  and  if  followed  into  a  corner 
simply  disappeared. 

"  During  these  two  years  the  only  noises  I  heard  were  those  of 
slight  pushes  against  my  bedroom  door,  accompanied  by  foot- 
steps; and  if  I  looked  out  on  hearing  these  sounds,  I  invari- 
ably saw  the  figure.  *  Her  footstep  is  very  light,  you  can 
hardly  hear  it,  except  on  the  linoleum,  and  then  only  like  a 
person  walking  softly  with  thin  boots  on.'  (Letter  of  January 
31st,  1884.)  The  appearances  during  the  next  two  months — 
July  and  August,  1884 — became  much  more  frequent;  indeed 
they  were  then  at  their  maximum,  from  which  time  they  seem 
gradually  to  have  decreased,  until  now  they  seem  to  have 
ceased. 

"  Of  these  two  months  I  have  a  short  record  in  a  set  of  journal 
letters  written  at  the  time  to  a  friend.  On  July  21st  I  find  the 
following  account.  "I  went  into  the  drawing-room,  where 
my  father  and  sisters  were  sitting,  about  9  in  the  evening,  and 
sat  down  on  a  couch  close  to  the  bow  window.  A  few  minutes 
after,  as  I  sat  reading,  I  saw  the  figure  come  in  at  the  open 
door,  cross  the  room,  and  take  up  a  position  close  behind  the 
couch  where  I  was.  I  was  astonished  that  no  one  else  in  the 
room  saw  her,  as  she  was  so  very  distinct  to  me.  My  youngest 
brother,  who  had  before  seen  her,  was  not  in  the  room.     She 


Haunted  Houses  269 

stood  behind  the  couch  for  about  half  an  hour,  and  then  as 
usual  walked  to  the  door.  I  went  after  her,  on  the  excuse  of 
getting  a  book,  and  saw  her  pass  along  the  hall,  until  she  came 
to  the  garden  door,  where  she  disappeared.  I  spoke  to  her  as 
she  passed  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  but  she  did  not  answer, 
although  as  before  she  stopped  and  seemed  as  though  about  to 
speak.'  On  July  31st,  some  time  after  I  had  gone  up  to  bed, 
my  second  sister  E.,  who  had  remained  downstairs  talking  in 
another  sister's  room,  came  to  me  saying  that  some  one  had 
passed  her  on  the  stairs.  I  tried  then  to  persuade  her  that  it 
was  one  of  the  servants,  but  next  morning  found  it  could  not 
have  been  so,  as  none  of  them  had  been  out  of  their  rooms  at 
that  hour,  and  E.'s  more  detailed  description  tallied  with  what 
I  had  already  seen." 

During  this  period  of  two  years  the  figure  was 
also  seen  by  at  least  three  other  inmates  of  the 
house,  none  of  them  knowing  what  the  others  had 
seen. 

(i)  Mrs.  K.  writes: 

"  29th  March,  1892, 

"While  staying  at ,  in  the  autumn  of  1883,  I  was  coming 

down  the  stairs,  about  five  in  the  afternoon,  when  I  saw  a  tall 
figure  in  black  cross  the  hall,  push  open  the  drawing-room 
door,  and  go  in.  At  the  time  I  thought  she  was  a  Sister  of 
Mercy,  from  her  long  veil,  the  figure  being  entirely  substan- 
tial, and  like  that  of  a  real  person,  although  on  others  making 
inquiries,  no  one  had  called. 

"  This,  I  may  mention,  was  the  year  before  I  heard  of  any 
appearance  being  known  of  in  the  house." 

Mrs.  K.  adds  that  she  saw  the  figure  on  two 
other  occasions. 

(2)  Mr.  W.  H.  C.  Morton  writes : 

"31st  December,  1891. 
"On  or  about  December  18th,  ^Z^i^  I  was  playing  with  a 
school-friend  on  the  path  in  front  of  the  drawing-room  win- 


270  Haunted  Houses 

dows,  when  on  looking  up  at  the  drawing-room  we  both  saw  a 
tall  figure  in  black,  holding  a  handkerchief  to  her  face  with 
her  right  hand,  seated  at  the  writing-table  in  the  window,  and 
therefore  in  full  light.  We  came  in  at  once,  but  on  going  into 
the  room  found  no  one  there,  and  on  making  inquiries  found 
that  no  stranger  had  been  in  the  house  that  afternoon.  As 
far  as  I  can  remember,  this  was  about  3.15  in  the  afternoon. 
At  all  events,  it  was  full  daylight  at  the  time. 

"  Since  then  I  have  seen  the  figure  twice. 

"...  Previously  to  seeing  the  appearances  (i)  and  (2)  I  had 
heard  nothing  about  anything  unusual  in  the  house." 

(3)  The  third  appearance  was  to  a  housemaid, 
and  is  thus  described  by  Miss  Morton  : 

*'  In  the  autumn  of  1883  it  was  seen  by  the  housemaid  about 
10  P.M.,  she  declaring  that  some  one  had  got  into  the  house, 
her  description  agreeing  fairly  with  what  I  had  seen ;  but,  as 
on  searching  no  one  was  found,  her  story  received  no  credit." 

On  August  5th,  1884,  Miss  Morton  told  her 
father  what  she  had  seen,  and  thereafter  the 
"ghost"  became  a  famiHar  topic  in  the  household. 
Subsequent  appearances  have  thus  somewhat  less 
scientific  interest,  since  it  is  impossible  to  exclude 
the  effect  of  suggestion.  One  other  illustration 
may  however  be  quoted.  The  percipient  in  this 
case  was  a  charwoman,  Mrs.  Twining,  and  the  ac- 
count is  based  upon  notes  taken  by  Mr.  Myers  at  a 
personal  interview  on  29th  December,  1889. 

"About  three  years  ago,  one  summer  evening  between  eight 
and  nine,  when  it  was  twilight,  I  had  been  at  work  at  the 
Mortons'  and  was  waiting  for  my  pay.  I  stood  at  the  top  of 
the  kitchen  stairs,  where  there  is  a  door  into  the  garden  be- 
hind the  house.     I  saw  a  lady  pass  by,  rather  tall,  in  black 


Haunted  Houses  271 

silk,  witli  white  collar  and  cuffs,  a  handkerchief  in  her  hand, 
and  a  widow's  fall.  I  had  heard  about  the  ghost,  but  it  never 
struck  me  that  this  figure  cculd  be  a  ghost — it  looked  so  like  an 
ordinary  person.  I  thought  that  some  one  had  come  to  call 
and  missed  her  way  to  the  door.  The  family  were  at  tea  and 
I  was  merely  waiting,  so  out  of  curiosity  I  followed  the  lady 
round  the  house.  Just  outside  the  morning-room  window  she 
suddenly  disappeared.  I  was  quite  near  her;  it  was  quite 
impossible  that  a  real  person  could  have  got  away." 

During  the  next  few  years  the  characteristic 
light  footsteps  were  frequently  heard  by  all  the  in- 
mates of  the  house  ;  also  other  sounds  which  grad- 
ually grew  more  loud  and  terrifying.  The  figure 
was  also  frequently  seen,  by  Miss  Morton  herself, 
by  her  sisters,  and  by  servants ;  sometimes  in  the 
garden  or  orchard,  more  frequently  in  the  house  ; 
sometimes  in  full  daylight,  at  other  times  in  the 
dusk  or  by  artificial  light.  The  phenomena  gradu- 
ally decreased  in  intensity  and  frequency  from  188/ 
onwards,  and  had  entirely  ceased  before  1892. 
After  1886  Miss  Morton  records  that  the  figure 
became  less  lifelike  and  distinct. 

The  figure  is  stated  to  have  been  identified  by 
description  as  resembling  the  second  Mrs.  S.  It 
should  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that,  as  the  face 
was  never  seen,  any  identification  of  the  kind  must 
be  of  an  uncertain  character.  It  should  be  added 
that  there  is  some  evidence  of  the  house  having  the 
character  of  being  haunted  before  it  was  taken  by 
the  Mortons.  None  of  the  Morton  family  have 
experienced  any  other  hallucinations,  but  Miss 
Morton  has  taken  part  in  some  successful  experi- 


272  Haunted  Houses 

ments  in  thought  transference.  Instances  were 
observed  of  terror  and  other  unaccountable  be- 
haviour on  the  part  of  two  dogs,  which  suggested 
that  they  also  saw  the  ghost. 

This  narrative,  it  should  be  explained,  cannot 
be  taken  as  altogether  typical.  The  appearances 
of  the  figure  were  much  more  frequent  than  is 
commonly  the  case  in  what  may  conveniently  be 
called  "  haunted  houses."  The  figure  itself  was 
more  substantial-looking  and  more  distinctly  seen 
than  many  of  the  figures  described  in  narratives  of 
this  class.  But  it  is  by  the  persistence  of  the  ap- 
parition in  this  instance,  its  mov^ement  from  place 
to  place,  and  its  apparently  purposive  action,  that 
the  case  is  most  sharply  distinguished  from  the 
bulk  of  the  accounts  furnished  to  us.  It  is  possible 
that  these  very  characteristics  are  due  to  the  same 
cause  which  has  preserved  a  contemporary  record 
of  the  incidents,  viz.,  the  scientific  temper  and 
training  of  Miss  Morton,  who  was  actually  studying 
medicine  at  the  time  when  she  wrote  the  account. 

However  that  may  be,  in  the  ordinary  ghost 
story,  of  which  we  have,  as  said,  numerous  exam- 
ples recorded  at  first  hand,  the  figure  is  as  a  rule 
seen  only  for  a  few  moments,  vanishing  before  it 
can  be  closely  examined ;  it  rarely  indicates  any 
purpose,  or  makes  any  motion  indicative  of  intelli- 
gence. A  more  significant  point  is  that  in  very 
few  cases  can  we  be  satisfied  that  the  figures  seen 
by  the  different  witnesses  can  fairly  be  described  as 
the  same  figure.     The  details  have  in  most  cases 


Haunted  Houses  273 

been  committed  to  writing  only  after  hearing  the 
descriptions  of  others  ;  so  that  features  discerned 
or  beheved  to  be  common  become  more  definite  in 
recollection,  and  discrepancies  tend  to  disappear. 
In  short,  the  image  which  remains  in  the  memories 
of  the  percipients  is  apt  to  resemble  a  composite 
photograph,  in  which  all  the  common  features  are 
emphasised,  and  details  found  only  in  individual 
cases  are  blurred  or  faintly  indicated. 

But  even  in  the  accounts  forwarded  to  us,  mostly 
written  some  years  after  the  events,  when  there  has 
been  ample  time  for  the  several  experiences  to  have 
been  talked  over  and  smoothed  into  uniformity,  it 
frequently  happens  that  we  can  discern  marked  dis- 
crepancies in  the  description  of  the  figures.  In  many 
cases  the  figures  seen  are  admittedly  different.  In 
the  case,  for  instance,  a  fragment  of  which  has 
been  already  quoted  at  the  end  of  the  last  chapter, 
(No.  55),  the  most  frequent  apparition  was  a 
figure,  sex  uncertain,  clothed  in  black  with,  accord- 
ing to  most  witnesses,  some  white  about  the  head 
and  shoulders.  But  one  inmate  of  the  house  saw 
the  figure  of  a  man  in  his  shirt-sleeves ;  the  appar- 
ition of  a  white  dog  was  also  seen  by  several  per- 
sons. Here  then  in  this  one  case  we  have  four 
distinct  kinds  of  apparition. 

The  impression  left  upon  the  mind  after  a  care- 
ful survey  of  the  best  attested  narratives  is  that  the 
authentic  ghost  rarely  appears  in  recognisable,  per- 
haps not  even  in  constant  shape ;  that  his  connec- 
tion with  tragedies  is  obscure  and  uncertain.     He 


274  Haunted  Houses 

appears  in  fact  in  most  narratives  as  a  fugitive, 
irrelevant,  and  frequently  polymorphic  phantasm. 
He  seems  to  flit  as  idly  across  the  scene  as  the 
figure  cast  by  a  magic  lantern,  and  he  possesses  ap- 
parently as  little  purpose,  volition,  or  intelligence. 
Often,  indeed,  the  appearance  is  so  brief  and  so 
unsubstantial  that  it  can  be  called  little  more  than 
the  suggestion  of  a  figure.  It  bears  as  little  resem- 
blance to  the  aggrieved  miser,  the  repentant  monk, 
the  unquiet  spirit  of  the  murderer  or  his  victim, 
with  whom  the  legends  of  our  childhood  and  the 
dinner-parties  of  our  maturer  years  have  made  us 
familiar,  as  the  dragons  whom  Siegfried  slew  bear 
to  the  winged  lizards  whose  bones  lie  buried  in  the 
Sussex  weald. 

It  would  be  premature  then  to  conclude,  on  the 
faith  of  one  or  two  striking  instances  which  seem  to 
point  in  that  direction,  that  the  dead  have  any 
message  to  deliver  to  the  living.  But  if  cases  of  the 
kind  recorded  by  William  Moir  and  Miss  Morton 
should  ultimately  be  multiplied,  such  a  conclusion 
would  no  doubt  appear  less  dubious.  To  secure 
that  end  it  is  essential  to  cultivate  a  scientific  atti- 
tude towards  the  facts.  Whatever  these  vague 
phantasms  may  ultimately  prove  to  be,  whether 
messages  from  the  dead,  or  mere  random  dreams 
of  the  living,  they  are,  at  any  rate,  amongst  the 
things  that  happen.  They  are  questionable  shapes, 
and  will,  if  we  persevere,  yield  an  answer  to  our 
questioning. 


CHAPTER   XII 

MESSAGES    RECEIVED    THROUGH    TRANCE   OR 
AUTOMATISM 

A  MONGST  the  subjects  of  investigation  set  out 
-'*•  in  the  original  prospectus  of  the  Society,  as 
already  indicated,  was  the  study  of  hypnotism  and 
the  phenomena  of  the  induced  trance.  In  the 
Society's  early  years  some  valuable  experimental 
work  in  this  direction  was  done  by  the  late  Edmund 
Gurney,  especially  in  investigating  the  relations  of 
the  hypnotic  to  the  normal  consciousness.  And  up 
to  the  present  time  we  have  let  pass  no  opportunity 
for  studying  any  case  of  automatism,  abnormal 
lapse  of  memory,  or  secondary  consciousness. 
Again,  F.  W.  H.  Myers  has  done  the  work  of  a 
pioneer  in  his  wide  survey  of  the  whole  field  of 
these  perplexing  and  obscure  phenomena,  and  has 
shown  how  order  can  be  evolved  out  of  chaos.  But 
the  subject  is  now  recognised  as  legitimate  for 
scientific  enquiry.  Even  English  medical  men 
have  at  length  reluctantly  admitted  the  existence 
of  the  hypnotic  state,  and  are  beginning  to  discern 
in  it  profitable  material  for  study.  On  the  Continent 
hypnotism  has  been  incorporated  in  medical  practice 
27s 


276  Messages  Through  Trance 

in  many  independent  quarters  for  nearly  a  genera- 
tion ;  of  recent  years  the  baffling  manifestations 
of  dissociated  personality  are,  especially  in  France 
and  America,  being  made  the  subject  of  careful  and 
prolonged  research  ;  and  automatic  reactions  are 
being  accurately  measured  in  psychological  labora- 
tories. Now  that  this  province  has  been  definitely 
annexed  by  medical  men  and  professional  psycho- 
logists, the  special  function  of  the  Society  for  Psy- 
chical Research  is  fulfilled.  The  investigation  is 
not  of  course  concluded ;  it  is  in  fact  little  more 
than  begun.  Our  own  researches  will  continue,  it 
is  hoped,  to  yield  fruit :  they  are  indeed  probably 
necessary  for  the  elucidation  of  some  aspects  of  the 
subject.  But  the  study  as  a  whole  has  reached  a 
stage  at  which  the  wider  resources  of  the  alienist's 
clinique,  and  the  more  exact  methods  of  the  psy- 
chological laboratory  are  needed  for  its  further 
progress.  To  enable  the  reader  to  appreciate  the 
real  bearing  of  the  evidence  presented  in  the  two 
chapters  which  follow,  it  is  necessary  to  give  some 
account  of  the  results  already  attained  and  of  the 
conclusions  to  which  they  point,  even  though  at 
the  present  stage  of  the  nascent  science  a  brief 
summary  of  this  kind  must  necessarily  be  incom- 
plete and  perhaps  to  some  extent  misleading. 

Briefly  then,  to  the  older  philosophy  the  mind  of 
man  seemed  a  thing  apart,  a  clear-cut  indissoluble 
unity,  whose  permanence  and  identity  admitted 
neither  doubt  or  degree.  To  the  new  experimental 
psychology,  the  unity  of  consciousness  is  a  mere 


Messages  Through  Trance  277 

illusion  ;  it  is  even  as  the  "elementary"  nature  of 
earth,  air,  and  water,  the  unreasoned  judgment  of 
ignorance.  The  composite  and  unstable  nature 
of  our  consciousness  can  be  inferred  even  from  the 
manifestations  of  normal  waking  and  sleep.  Our 
waking  consciousness  at  any  given  moment  may 
by  careful  introspection  be  found  to  consist  in  a 
heterogeneous  mass  of  impressions  of  every  de- 
gree of  intensity.  Take,  for  instance,  the  case  of 
a  man  walkino-  about  and  talkinor  with  a  friend  in 
some  crowded  place.  His  consciousness  will  in- 
clude many  distinct  groups  of  ideas  ;  he  will  be 
"thinking"  primarily  of  some  particular  aspect  of 
the  subject  under  discussion,  but  there  will  enter  as 
elements  into  his  consciousness  ideas  of  its  other 
aspects  and  of  cognate  subjects.  He  will  also  be 
conscious  of  his  interlocutor's  appearance,  voice, 
etc.  ;  he  will  be  conscious,  more  dimly,  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  surroundings  and  of  the  other  per- 
sons near  him  ;  there  will  probably  be  present  to 
him  also  some  twilight  knowledge  of  scraps  of  con- 
versation overheard ;  and,  lastly,  there  will  be  an 
obscure  but  adequate  conception  of  his  own  move- 
ments in  walking  and  speaking,  and  of  his  tactile, 
muscular,  and  organic  sensations  generally. 

In  the  language  of  physiology,  consciousness  re- 
flects the  simultaneous,  co-ordinate  activities  of  an 
immense  number  of  nerve-centres,  but  reflects  them 
very  imperfectly,  much  as — to  employ  Ribot's  illus- 
tration— a  map  represents  the  main  features  of  a 
countryside. 


278  Messages  Through  Trance 

But  when,  as  in  sleep,  the  pressure  on  the  Hmits 
of  consciousness  is  reheved  by  the  inactivity  of 
some  of  the  higher  cerebral  centres,  the  "  critical 
point "  of  consciousness  is  lowered,  various  new 
elements  rise  above  the  threshold,  and  elements 
hitherto  subordinate  acquire  greater  prominence. 
Of  the  throng  of  images  present  to  the  mind  during 
sleep,  the  most  part  are  so  evanescent  as  to  fade 
from  the  memory  shortly  after  waking.  The  com- 
mon run  of  dreams,  no  doubt,  are  comparable  in 
intensity  to  the  feebler  reverberations  accompany- 
ing the  main  movement  of  our  waking  thoughts, 
and  assume  temporary  importance  only  because 
they  do  not  come  into  competition  with  more  vivid 
impressions.  Thus  sensations  of  organic  processes 
are  frequently  predominant  during  sleep,  just  as 
the  clank  and  clash  of  shunting  trains,  the  gross 
machinery  which  underlies  our  social  life,  forms  an 
unregarded  element  in  the  complex  mass  of  sound 
which  fills  our  ears  in  the  daylight  hours,  but  at- 
tains to  solitary  distinctness  in  the  quiet  of  the 
night. 

We  thus  sometimes  obtain  in  dreams  knowledge 
of  latent  illness  of  which  no  sign  could  be  discerned 
in  our  waking  hours.  Again,  in  sleep  we  frequently 
revert  to  forgotten  memories  of  our  earlier  years, 
and  our  dreams  are  constantly  coloured  by  the 
emotional  tone  which  prevailed  in  childhood.  Our 
consciousness  in  dreams  is  thus  still  a  compound, 
but  it  is  a  compound  which  includes  different  ele- 
ments.    Further,   in   dreams  there    may  be  spon- 


Messa^T^es  Throuo-h  Trance  279 


*&^-"  ^""^"& 


taneous  intellectual  activity,  unrelated  to  the  main 
stream  of  consciousness,  as  when  problems  are 
solved  or  poetry  composed  in  sleep. 

Until  a  generation  or  two  ago  the  survey  of  our 
intellectual  processes  was  practically  limited  to  the 
two  fields  of  sleep  and  wakefulness,  with  stray  facts 
gleaned  from  delirium  or  occasional  instances  of 
automatic  action, —  Dr.  Carpenter's  "  unconscious 
cerebration."  But  the  observations  accumulated  in 
the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  have  revolutionised 
our  conception  of  man's  personality.  On  the  one 
hand,  in  the  hypnotic  trance  we  commonly  find  a 
memory  and  consciousness  differing  from  those  of 
normal  life.  Many  hypnotic  subjects  retain  in 
waking  life  no  recollection  of  what  they  have  done 
and  suffered  in  the  hypnotic  trance  ;  but  when  again 
hypnotised  they  can  recall  all  that  passed  in  the 
previous  trance,  and  will,  moreover,  almost  invari- 
ably, be  cognisant  of  their  waking  life  as  well.  To 
put  it  briefly,  the  hypnotic  memory  in  such  cases 
includes  the  normal  memory,  as  the  larger  of  two 
concentric  circles  includes  the  smaller.  How  far 
this  secondary  consciousness  is  pre-existent,  or  how 
far  it  owes  its  being  to  the  suggestion  of  the  hyp- 
notiser  is  still  undecided.  But  some  experiments 
made  by  Edmund  Gurney  indicate  that  some  of  the 
limitations  of  consciousness  and  memory  in  the 
hypnotic  state  are  purely  artificial.  He  has  shown 
that  in  many  hypnotic  subjects  two  distinct  stages 
can  be  demonstrated  in  the  hypnotic  trance,  each 
with  a   memory   peculiar   to  itself    and    mutually 


28o  Messages  Through  Trance 

exclusive.  In  some  subjects,  indeed,  he  succeeded 
in  evoking  three  such  stages,  the  memory  in  each 
being  distinct  and  exclusive,  so  that  the  subject  in 
state  A  would  carry  on  an  animated  conversation 
on  any  imaginary  incident  suggested  to  him  by 
Gurney  ;  when  thrown  into  state  B  he  would  have 
completely  forgotten  the  subject  of  his  talk  in  state 
A,  but  would  talk  on  a  fresh  subject  similarly  sug- 
gested, which  would  in  turn  be  forgotten  on  his 
being  placed  In  state  C.  He  could  be  led  back- 
wards and  forwards  through  these  three  states  sev- 
eral times  in  the  course  of  an  evening,  and  would 
converse  in  each  state  freely  on  the  ideas  peculiar 
to  that  state,  or  on  any  other  which  might  be  sug- 
gested to  him.  After  a  few  days,  however,  these 
artificial  barriers  would  disappear,  and  the  trance 
memory  would  show  itself  undivided. 

Now  the  phenomena  which  can  be  observed  on  a 
small  scale  in  these  artificial  divisions  of  memory 
occur  in  much  more  impressive  form  in  certain 
pathologic  cases.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  life-history 
of  A-nsel  Bourne,  the  patient  may  entirely  lose  his 
memory  and  his  sense  of  identity,  and  have  to 
begin  life  over  again  in  an  unfamiliar  environ- 
ment. Sometimes,  as  in  the  classic  case  of  Felida 
X.,  or  the  more  recent  history,  recorded  by  Dr. 
Morton  Prince,  of  Miss  Beauchamp,  two,  or  more, 
states  of  consciousness  may  alternate,  and  this  al- 
ternation may  be  observed  to  continue  for  years. 
The  memories  proper  to  these  states  may  be  mu- 
tually exclusive  ;  or  on  the  other  hand,  the  memory 


Messages  Through  Trance  281 

in  state  B  may,  as  In  the  hypnotic  trance,  include 
that  in  state  A  ;  whilst  in  state  A  the  unhappy 
patient  may  know  nothing  of  his  doings  and  suffer- 
ings in  state  B. 

Much  light  has  been  thrown  upon  the  pathology 
of  these  cases  of  double  consciousness  by  Janet's 
studies  conducted  on  hysterical  patients  in  the 
Salpetriere.  Broadly  speaking,  he  has  shown  that 
these  alterations  of  memory  and  consciousness 
correspond  with  alterations  in  the  physical  basis  of 
memory.  The  patient  for  whom,  in  the  state  to 
which  attacks  of  hystero-epilepsy  had  reduced  her, 
the  memory  of  a  great  part  of  her  past  life  was  a 
blank,  possessed  also  a  seriously  curtailed  sensory 
equipment.  She  had  no  sense  of  touch,  and  no 
muscular  sense.  She  would  "  lose  her  legs  in  bed  " 
as  she  herself  described  it,  and  could  walk  only  by 
looking  at  her  limbs  and  the  ground.  She  was 
very  deaf,  and  her  sight,  her  most  serviceable  sense, 
was  extremely  restricted.  But  when  under  hyp- 
notic treatment,  she  recovered  the  use  of  her  limbs, 
and  could  walk  without  lookincr  at  her  feet  or  the 

o 

floor,  and  recovered  also  her  normal  powers  of 
vision.  A  corresponding  enlargement  of  the  mem- 
ory was  observed.  She  would  not  only  be  conscious 
of  all  her  life  as  a  hospital  patient,  but  she  could 
remember  also  the  years  of  her  childhood. 

Now  there  are  indications  in  many  cases  of  spon- 
taneous trance  of  similar  physical  deficiencies  ac- 
companying, and  presumably  conditioning,  the 
changes  of  consciousness.     Thus  M.  Flournoy  re- 


282  Messages  Through  Trance 

cords  in  the  case  of  his  subject,  Helene  Smith,  dis- 
turbances of  the  muscular  system  (contractions, 
convulsions,  and  involuntary  movements  of  various 
kinds),  partial  paralysis,  and  local  anaesthetic 
patches.  In  less  extreme  cases  the  secondary  per- 
sonality may  be  characterised  by  neurasthenia,  im- 
paired circulation,  and  generally  some  degree  of  ill 
health.  Even  in  the  case  of  automatic  writing  it 
can  occasionally  be  demonstrated  that  the  writing 
hand  is  anaesthetic,  and  some  degree  of  anaesthesia 
is  reported  to  have  been  observed  in  subjects  during 
the  performance  of  a  post-hypnotic  promise. 

Speaking  broadly,  then,  it  may  be  inferred  that 
all  changes  in  memory  and  consciousness  are  con- 
ditioned by  changes  in  the  physical  basis  of  memory 
and  consciousness ;  in  sleep  the  supply  of  blood  to 
the  brain  is  diminished ;  in  intoxication  the  higher 
centres  are  poisoned ;  the  enlargement  of  memory 
in  the  case  of  the  Salpetriere  patient  represents  the 
removal  of  an  inhibition,  the  revivification  of  dor- 
mant tracts  of  cerebral  tissue  ;  and  even  the  simplest 
case  of  automatic  action  appears  to  involve  a  tem- 
porary segregation  of  certain  groups  of  brain  cells 
constituting  a  sensori-motor  area. 

In  the  more  familiar  forms  of  dissociated  con- 
sciousness— sleep,  delirium,  alcoholic  intoxication, 
epilepsy — the  lines  of  cleavage  are,  so  to  speak, 
horizontal.  It  is  the  higher  controlling  centres, 
and  generally  speaking  those  parts  of  the  brain 
concerned  with  the  life  of  relation,  whose  activity 
is  repressed  or  altogether  suspended.     The  total 


Messages  Through  Trance  283 

amount  of  consciousness,  to  speak  figuratively,  may 
not  in  all  cases  be  affected,  but  the  level  sinks  ;  it 
includes  less  of  the  higher  and  more  of  the  lower. 
In  various  forms  of  trance,  however,  and  in  cases 
of  double  personality,  the  cleavage  is  commonly 
vertical.  The  new  consciousness  is  approximately 
on  the  same  level  as  the  old.  The  higher  cerebral 
centres  still  continue  their  functions ;  the  new  per- 
sonality is  not  a  mere  torso,  as  in  sleep  ;  it  is  so  to 
speak  complete  in  itself.  It  is  not  necessarily  either 
higher  or  lower,  it  is  merely  different.  The  differ- 
ence, generally  speaking,  may  be  presumed  to  lie 
in  the  inclusion  or  exclusion  of  certain  sensori- 
motor areas,  the  revivification  or  inhibition  of  cer- 
tain cerebral  tracts,  with  all  the  memories  and 
sensations  based  upon  them.  The  earliest  indica- 
tions of  this  vertical  cleavage,  it  should  be  noted, 
may  be  traced  in  the  various  forms  of  automatism, 
beginning  with  simple  reverie,  and  going  on  to 
crystal  gazing,  table-turning,  and  automatic  writing. 
In  such  cases  as  a  rule  the  control  of  the  primary 
consciousness  is  not  lost,  but  a  parasitic  secondary 
consciousness,  a  small  dissociated  area,  has  become 
active  on  its  own  account. 

Now  the  feeling  of  personal  identity  depends 
upon  the  memory  of  past  and  the  consciousness  of 
present  sensations.  Any  change  in  these  is  liable 
to  impair  the  sense  of  personality.  That  sense  of 
personality  is  not  seriously  affected  in  sleep  or  in- 
toxication, partly  because  the  states  are  familiar, 
partly  no  doubt  because  the  consciousness  is  not 


284  Messages  Through  Trance 

so  much  changed  as  mutilated.  But  when  the  dis- 
sociation is  of  a  sudden  or  unfamiHar  kind,  and 
especially  when,  to  continue  our  metaphor,  the 
lines  of  cleavage  are  mainly  vertical,  the  sense  of 
personal  identity  may  be  altogether  lost.  The  pa- 
tient will  in  such  a  case  feel  that  he  is  a  different 
person,  and  will  repudiate  his  former  personality. 
This  in  fact  is  what  frequently  happens,  not  only 
in  the  more  extreme  pathologic  cases,  but  even  in 
profound  hypnotism  or  in  the  spontaneous  trance 
observed  at  spiritualistic  seances.  Even  the  talk- 
ing table  will  personify  itself,  and  the  hand  of  the 
automatic  writer  will  frequently  proclaim  its  sepa- 
rate individuality.  The  new  consciousness  will 
then  speak  of  the  normal  personality  as  "he"  or 
"she"  or  the  "medium";  and  give  to  itself  a  won- 
derful new  name.  The  name  chosen  will  be  apt  to 
reflect  the  wishes  of  the  entranced  subject,  or  the 
prepossessions  of  the  bystanders ;  it  may  be  that 
of  a  Hebrew  prophet,  one  of  Solomon's  genii,  an 
Indian  chief,  or  a  deceased  friend  of  those  present. 
It  is  important  to  note,  however,  that  this  assump- 
tion of  an  alien  personality  speaking  through  the 
entranced  person  is  made  in  many  cases  in  good 
faith  by  all  parties  concerned.  It  is,  in  short,  an 
inference  from  the  observed  phenomena,  which  is 
almost  inevitably  made  by  persons  without  special 
knowledge  of  the  subject.^     The  pseudo-personality 

'  It  must  be  admitted  that  this  inference  has  been  drawn  in  certain  cases 
by  observers  whose  training  and  special  knowledge  render  them  peculiarly 
qualified  to  form  a  judgment  in  such  matters.  In  discussing  the  case  of 
Miss  Beauchamp,  for  instance,   Mr.  W.  M'  Dougall  explicitly  rejects  the 


Messages  Through  Trance  285 

will  in  many  cases  give  proof  of  knowledge  outside 
the  range  of  the  primary  consciousness ;  it  may 
show  traces  of  keener  sensibilities,  and  even  of 
new  faculties.  Again,  in  some  cases,  it  will  act  in 
opposition  to  its  host.  It  will  repudiate  their  com- 
mon identity ;  and  will  take  pains  to  thwart  the 
schemes  made  by  the  other  self.  This  opposition 
of  the  primary  and  secondary  consciousness  occurs 
even  in  the  simpler  forms  of  automatism ;  plan- 
chette  will  frequently  write  coarse  or  blasphemous 
expressions  which  are  repugnant  to  the  upper  self. 
Extreme  instances  of  opposition  will  be  found  in 
certain  pathologic  cases,  especially  in  the  mutual 
relations  of  the  several  "personalities"  incarnated 
in  the  body  of  Miss  Beauchamp.  Strange  and 
almost  incredible  as  are  some  of  the  things  re- 
corded, they  seem  to  represent  no  more  than  an 
exaggerated  form  of  the  struggle  between  oppos- 
ing tendencies  which  is  constantly  taking  place  in 
human  life — a  struggle  which  forms  indeed  the 
very  basis  of  moral  evolution. 

Thus,  when  the  secondary  personality  assumes 
the  name  of  a  deceased  friend  of  those  present, 
mimics  his  attitude,  his  gestures  and  ways  of  speak- 
ing, and  the  external  features  of  his  personality, 

view  taken  by  Dr.  Morton  Prince  himself,  that  "  Sally"  is  to  be  regarded  as 
merely  a  by-product  of  the  patient's  mental  disintegration,  a  split-off  group 
of  states  of  consciousness.  In  Mr.  M'Dougall's  view,  if  the  facts  are  cor- 
rectly recorded,  the  personality  named  "  Sally"  must  be  regarded  as  "a 

psychic  being  or  entity  distinct  from  that  of  the  normal  Miss  B "  :  in 

short,  if  I  understand  him  rightly,  an  invading  or  obsessing  spirit. 
(^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xix.,  pp.  410  sqq.) 


286  Messages  Through  Trance 

the  recollection  of  the  extraordinary  self-consistency 
and  fidelity  with  which  some  entranced  subjects 
will  act  out  impersonations  of  historic  characters 
compels  us  to  be  cautious  in  endorsing  the  au- 
thenticity of  such  representations.  Even  when  the 
pseudo-personality  shows  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  life  and  family  affairs  of  the  deceased  person 
whom  it  claims  to  represent,  it  may  be  of  incidents 
almost  passed  from  living  memories,  we  are  bound 
to  consider  whether  the  knowledge  displayed  could 
not  have  been  gained  by  cunning  guesses,  or  tele- 
pathically  from  the  minds  of  the  living  friends  pre- 
sent in  the  room.  There  are,  however,  as  will  be 
seen  later,  instances  on  record  which  are  difficult 
to  reconcile  with  this  explanation.  And  there  are 
a  few  cases  where  information  has  been  given  by 
the  pseudo-personality  which  could  not  apparently 
have  been  within  the  knowledge  of  any  living  mind. 
Such  instances  are,  however,  at  present  scanty  and 
ambiguous  ;  at  most,  therefore,  in  view  of  the  mo- 
mentous issues  involved,  they  may  perhaps  be  held 
to  justify  suspension  of  judgment. 

After  this  preface  we  will  pass  to  consider  some 
examples  of  messages  received  in  some  form  of 
trance  or  automatism,  or,  at  lowest,  when  there  is 
reason  to  suspect  some  slight  dissociation  of  con- 
sciousness. Sometimes  the  state  of  reverie  is  pre- 
sent in  what  seems  a  condition  of  normal  wakefulness. 
At  any  rate  the  lapse  from  ordinary  consciousness 
may  be  so  slight  that  the  percipient  is  not  aware 
of  any  change,  and  is  able  to  observe  and  record 


Messages  Through  Trance  287 

his  own  impressions  as  if  in  full  possession  of  his 
waking  faculties.  Some  of  the  telepathic  impres- 
sions cited  in  previous  chapters  appear  to  have 
been  received  when  the  percipient  was  in  a  reverie 
of  this  character.^  Crystal  visions,  it  is  probable, 
generally  imply  some  lapse  from  normal  wakeful- 
ness. Indeed,  as  already  said,  some  writers  are  of 
opinion  that  any  subjective  vision,  whether  or  not 
attaining  to  the  proportion  of  an  actual  hallucina- 
tion, involves  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  dissociation 
of  consciousness.  In  case  No.  50,  Chapter  X.,  the 
description  would  certainly  imply  marked  diverg- 
ence from  the  normal  state ;  but  as  the  experience 
recorded  by  Miss  Whiting  took  place  when  she  was 
in  bed,  after,  as  she  supposes,  she  had  been  awakened 
from  sleep,  we  should  perhaps  hardly  be  justified 
in  regarding  it  as  other  than  a  dream.  In  the  follow- 
ing case  we  have  an  example  of  self-induced  reverie. 
The  narrator  is  a  member  of  the  Society  for  Psy- 
chical Research  who  has  long  studied  psychical 
phenomena,  and  is  well  known  as  an  accurate  and 
impartial  investigator.  He  has  for  some  years 
made  a  careful  study  of  his  own  mental  processes  ; 
and  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  telepathic  im- 
pressions, he  has  cultivated  with  some  success  a 
passive  attitude  which  he  has  found  favourable  to 
their  reception,  whilst  still  permitting  him  to  exer- 
cise his  powers  of  observation  and  judgment.  The 
following  is  one  of  many  apparently  veridical  im- 
pressions in  his  experience. 

•  See,  e.  g..  No.  15,  Chapter  III. 


2  88  Messages  Through  Trance 

No.  62.     From  Mr.  C  Rio  de  Janeiro 

[The  record  from  which  this  particular  incident  is  extracted 
is  dated  May,  190 1,  but  the  account  is  based  upon  contem- 
porary notes.] 

On  the  22nd  May,  1896,  Mr.  C,  whilst  having  his  hair  cut, 
talked  over  some  psychical  experiences  with  the  hairdresser, 
Senor  Guimaraes.  The  latter  mentioned  some  incidents  in 
connection  with  his  dead  wife.  C.  received  the  impression 
that  the  wife's  name  was  Maria — and  that  white  flowers  had 
been  strewn  over  her  in  her  cofifin.  Both  impressions  were 
correct.  The  name  is  of  course  too  common  to  make  the 
coincidence  of  any  particular  significance  ;  but  white  flowers, 
it  is  noted,  are  not  generally  used  in  Brazil  at  the  funeral  of 
a  married  woman.  C.  further  was  impressed  to  draw  a  pro- 
file, which  Senor  Guimaraes  recognised  as  strikingly  like  the 
dead  woman.     Mr.  C.  then  continues: 

"  On  May  26th  C.*  sat  alone  in  his  sleeping-room  trying  for 
automatic  writing.  He  wrote  the  name  '  Maria,'  and  after- 
wards '  Guimaraes.'  Having  asked  for  further  proofs  of  iden- 
tity, the  experimenter  sought  for  an  answer  rather  in  visual 
terms  than  in  the  disconnected  and  partly  illegible  words 
traced  by  his  hand  on  the  paper.  Thereupon  came  dim  frag- 
mentary images  of  ships  ;  he  imagined  himself  under  the 
bows  of  an  ocean  steamer  ;  then  his  vision  was  focussed  for 
a  moment  or  so  on  a  distant  vessel  thrown  on  her  beam  ends 
in  a  rough  sea  so  that  the  deck  was  visible.  He  had  an 
idea  that  she  carried  many  people  on  board.  Immediately 
afterwards  a  boat  with  green  bows  was  pictured  coming  up 
over  a  large  wave.  She  was  also  full — perhaps  she  was  bringing 
away  persons  from  the  endangered  vessel.  There  was  nothing 
vivid  or  decided  in  all  this.  The  series  was  more  like  the 
faint  memory  images  of  events  far  removed  in  time.  Mean- 
while C.  had  scrawled  on  the  paper,  among  much  that  was 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  March,  1902,  pp.  204-08. 

''■  The  account,  though  written  by  C.  himself,  is  thrown  for  convenience 
into  the  third  person. 


Messages  Through  Trance  289 

illegible,  the  words  'bornt*  and  'swound,' probably  misspellings 
of  'burnt'  and  'swooned.'  From  these  inklings  of  passive 
and  motor  automatism  he  drew,  with  anything  but  confidence, 
the  following  conclusions:  Maria  Guimariies  had  been  in  some 
shipwrecked  or  burning  vessel  ;  she  had  been  taken  off  in  a 
boat  that  was  painted  green  ;  she  fainted  on  the  occasion. 
The  whole  affair  seemed  to  be  so  very  improbable  that  C.  hesi- 
tated to  speak  to  Senor  Guimaraes  about  it." 

On  the  30th  May,  however,  C.  related  his  im- 
pression to  Senor  Pinto,  who  immediately  (/.  e., 
within  an  hour)  made  a  written  note  of  C.'s  vision — 
"  a  ship  being  wrecked  and  persons  who  were  being 
saved  in  a  boat."  C.  thereupon  told  his  vision  to 
Senor  Guimaraes,  who  replied  that  his  wife  had, 
before  their  marriage,  been  shipwrecked  with  her 
mother;  that  they  had  been  taken  off  in  a  boat, 
Dona  Maria  in  a  fainting  condition.  Senor  Gui- 
maraes was  married  in  1873,  shortly  after  his  wife's 
arrival  in  Brazil  from  Sao  Miguel.  He  could  not 
himself  remember  the  name  of  the  wrecked  ship, 
but  his  daughter  thought  it  was  the  Maria  da 
Gloria,  In  fact  it  was  ascertained  that  in  1873, 
the  year  of  Signora  Guimaraes's  arrival  in  Brazil, 
and  on  a  date  corresponding  to  that  of  her  voyage, 
a  vessel  named  Maria  da  Gloria,  trading  between 
the  Azores  and  Brazil,  had,  after  touching  at  Sao 
Miguel,  sprung  a  leak,  so  that  the  passengers  had 
to  be  landed  in  boats.  The  vessel  was  not,  how- 
ever, lost. 

It  would  thus  appear  that  C.  received  an  impres- 
sion of  a  striking  and  unusual  incident  which  had 
taken  place  many  years  before  in  the  life  of  a  dead 


290  Messages  Through  Trance 

person  whom  he  had  never  seen.  No  details  how- 
ever seem  to  have  been  given  which  could  not  have 
been  derived  from  the  mind  of  the  widower. 

More  generally,  however,  messages  of  this  kind, 
purporting  to  emanate  from  the  dead,  are  received 
either  when  the  "  medium  "  is  in  a  state  of  trance, 
or  if  awake,  through  some  form  of  automatic  action. 
The  simplest  form  of  automatism,  and  that  which 
seems  the  easiest  to  cultivate,  is  the  movement  of 
the  table  In  tilting  out  messages  by  means  of  the 
alphabet,  or  the  movement  of  some  instrument  like 
Ouija,  with  a  pointer  and  a  dial.  An  instrument 
of  this  kind,  consisting  of  a  sliding  rod  and  an  al- 
phabet board,  was  the  means  of  communication  in 
the  following  case.  The  account  was  procured  by 
the  American  Branch  of  the  Society. 

No.  6;^.     From  Judge  W.   D.  Harden  * 

345  W.  34th  St.,  New  York,  October  3rd,  1888. 

Major  Lucius  B.  died  at  Savannah,  Georgia,  on  the  ist  April, 
1888.  His  widow  sent  on  the  i6th  April  the  following  state- 
ment to  Judge  Harden. 

"In  compliance  with  your  request  I  will  state  :  After  my 
honoured  husband  Major  Lucius  B.'s  departure  from  this  life, 
I  was  in  distress  of  mind  that  none  could  understand  but  one 
surrounded  by  similar  circumstances.  Of  his  business  trans- 
actions I  knew  but  little.  After  a  week  or  two  of  stunning 
agony,  I  aroused  myself  to  look  into  our  financial  condition. 
I  was  aware  that  he  had  in  his  keeping  a  note  given  by  Judge 
H.  W.  Hopkins  to  some  several  hundred  which  was  due,  and 
I  searched  all  the  nooks  and  corners  of  his  secretaire,  manu- 
script, letters,  memorandum-books,  read  several  hundred 
letters  ;  but  all  for  naught.     For  two  months  I  spent  most  of 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  viii.,  pp.  239-41. 


Messages  Through  Trance  291 

the  time  going  over  and  over,  but  with  the  same  result.     I 
finally  asked  him  at  a  seance  about  the  note. 

"  Q.  :  'Have  you  deposited  the  note  anywhere?'  A.:  'I 
have.' 

"  Q.  :  '  Where  ? '     No  answer. 

[Mrs  B.  wrote  to  Judge  Hopkins  that  the  note  could  not  be 
found.  But  the  following  Sunday  she  and  her  daughter  tried 
to  get  a  communication  through  the  little  instrument  described.] 

"  After  a  little  conversation  we  put  our  hands  on  the  rod  and 
it  promptly  spelt  'Look  in  my  long  drawer  and  find  Willie.' 
I  became  excited,  ran  to  the  bureau  and  pulled  out  the  bottom 
drawer,  turned  the  contents  upon  the  floor,  and  commenced  to 
search.  Under  all  the  things  was  a  vest  ;  in  its  little  breast 
pocket  was  the  note. 

"  Major  B.  was  in  the  habit  of  calling  the  bottom  drawer, 
where  only  his  undergarments  were  kept,  '  My  long  drawer,' 
to  designate  it  from  several  small  drawers  set  aside  for  his  use. 
The  vest  was  the  only  garment,  other  than  underwear,  in  the 
drawer.  The  vest  was  the  one  taken  off  him  when  he  first 
became  ill.  He  was  unconscious  during  the  first  day  of  his 
illness.  The  vest  was  put  in  the  drawer  after  or  during  his 
illness  by  my  friend,  I  think,  who  assisted  in  caring  for  him 
while  sick. 

"The  drawer  had  not  been  opened  that  we  knew  of  after  he 
left  us  until  the  note  was  discovered.  Although  I  had  moved 
to  another  room,  I  gave  instructions  that  the  bottom  drawer 
was  not  to  be  disturbed. 

"  As  soon  as  the  rod  spelt '  Look  in  my  long  drawer  and  find 
Willie,'  I  was  perfectly  electrified  with  the  knowledge  that 
Willie  H.'s  note  was  in  that  drawer,  although  I  never  would 
have  thought  of  looking  in  such  a  place  for  a  valuable  paper. 

"  Major  B.  and  myself  always  spoke  to  and  of  Judge  H.  as 
'Willie,'  he  being  a  relation  of  mine  and  a  favourite  of  Major 
B.  from  Willie's  childhood." 

The  account  is  confirmed  by  Miss  Nina  B.,  who 
appends  her  initials.    Dr.  Louis  Knorr,  of  Savannah, 


292  Messages  Through  Trance 

writes  to  say  that  Miss  Nina  B.  went  round  on  the 
same  afternoon  to  tell  him  of  the  discovery  of  the 
note ;  as  he  was  out  he  did  not  actually  hear 
the  news  until  later.  Mrs.  B.  knows  the  event  was 
on  a  Sunday  but  cannot  remember  the  exact  date  ; 
but  Dr.  Knorr  is  able  to  fix  it  as  having  been  either 
on  the  13th  or  20th  May. 

We  have  several  records  in  which  the  fact  of  a 
death,  unknown  to  any  of  those  present,  has  been 
announced  at  a  spiritualistic  seance.  In  the  fol- 
lowing case,  which  was  carefully  recorded  at  the 
time  by  Professor  Aksakof,  of  St.  Petersburg,  the 
announcement  was  conveyed  through  automatic 
writing. 

No.  64.     From  Professor  Aksakof  ' 

On  Jan.  19th,  1887,  the  engineer  Kaigorodoff,  of  Wilna, 
called  on  Professor  Aksakof  and  informed  him  that  his  Swiss 
governess,  Mdlle.  Emma  Stramm,  who  was  in  the  habit  of 
writing  automatically,  had  received  at  a  seance  held  in  his 
presence  at  Wilna,  on  Jan.  15th  at  9  p.  m.,  a  message  written 
in  French  stating  that  August  Duvanel  was  dead,  the  cause 
of  death  being  stated  as  a  clot  of  blood  {engorgement  de 
sang).  M.  Aksakof  saw  the  original  communication  and  made 
a  note  of  the  occurrence. 

In  four  days  Mdlle.  Stramm  received  a  letter  from  her  father 
giving  the  news  in  the  same  words  ;  his  letter  was  shown  to 
Professor  Aksakof  a  few  days  after  its  receipt.  August  Du- 
vanel had  been  a  suitor  of  Mdlle.  Stramm,  and  she  had  in  fact 
come  to  Russia  in  1881  to  escape  from  him  and  her  parents' 
importunity.  She  had  not  seen  or  heard  of  him  since  her 
departure.     In  1882  Duvanel  had  left  Neufchatel,  where  the 

'  The  account,  which  is  given  at  great  length  in  the  Psychische  Studien 
for  Feb.,  18S7,  and  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.vi.,  pp.  343  sqq.,  is  here 
briefly  summarised. 


Messages  Through  Trance  293 

Stramms  lived,  and  gone  to  Canton  Zurich.  On  Jan,  isth, 
1887,  living  at  the  time  alone  in  a  small  hamlet  remote  from 
his  friends,  August  Duvanel,  as  M.  Aksakof  afterwards  learnt, 
died  by  his  own  hand.  The  death,  by  Wilna  time,  took  place 
at  4.30  p.  M. — about  five  hours  before  the  news  was  received 
by  Mdlle.  Stramm  in  Wilna.  The  Stramm  family  at  Neufchatel 
did  not  hear  of  the  death  until  two  days  later.  No  one  was 
with  Duvanel  when  he  died  ;  nor  would  his  relations,  in  any 
event,  have  been  likely  to  send  a  telegram  on  the  subject  to 
Mdlle.  Stramm  in  Russia.  Nor  could  such  a  telegram,  if  sent, 
have  been  received,  so  M.  Kaigorodoff  assured  M.  Aksakof, 
without  his  knowledge.  The  most  puzzling  feature  in  the 
case  remains  to  be  noted.  M.  Stramm  when  he  wrote  to  his 
daughter  on  the  i8th  Jan,  knew  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
death  ;  but  to  avoid  causing  her  a  shock,  he  ascribed  it  to 
engorgement  de  sang,  using  the  same  words  as  those  given  in 
the  automatic  writing  ;  which  professed  to  be  dictated  by  the 
scribe's  spirit  brother,  Louis, 

The  facts  are  fully  attested  by  Professor  Aksa- 
kof's  contemporary  notes ;  so  that,  short  of  im- 
puting deliberate  deception  to  the  automatist,  there 
seems  to  be  no  possible  explanation  which  does 
not  at  the  least  involve  telepathy.  But  such  an 
interpretation  presents,  as  will  be  seen,  consider- 
able difficulty.  For  a  discussion  of  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  case  on  the  assumption  of  spirit 
communication  the  reader  is  referred  to  Mr.  Myers's 
comments.^ 

In  the  following  case  the  "message"  was  re- 
ceived in  the  borderland  between  sleep  and  waking. 
The  percipient's  state  seems  to  have  been  inter- 
mediate between  that  of  the  waking  automatist, 
who,  as  in  the  cases  just  recorded,  would  appear  to 

^Proceedings,  vi.,  pp.  348-9. 


294  Messages  Through  Trance 

be  almost  or  altogether  in  possession  of  his  normal 
senses,  and  the  entranced  medium,  in  whom  the 
primary  consciousness  is  altogether  in  abeyance. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  some  of  the  most 
striking  **  test "  communications  are  received  from 
Mrs.  Piper's  lips  at  the  moment  when  she  is 
emerging  from  the  trance. 

No.  65.     From  Mr.  John  E.  Wilkie'  (Chief  of  the  Secret 
Service  Department  at  Washington) 

"  Washington,  April  nth,  1898. 

"  In  October,  1895,  while  living  in  London,  England,  I  was 
attacked  by  bronchitis  in  rather  a  severe  form,  and  on  the  advice 
of  my  physician,  Dr.  Oscar  C.  De  Wolf,  went  to  his  residence 
in  6  Grenville  Place,  Cromwell  Road,  where  I  could  be  under 
his  immediate  care.  For  two  days  I  was  confined  to  my  bed, 
and  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day,  feel- 
ing somewhat  better,  I  partially  dressed  myself,  slipped  on  a 
heavy  bath  robe,  and  went  down  to  the  sitting-room  on  the 
main  floor,  where  my  friend,  the  doctor,  usually  spent  a  part 
of  the  afternoon  in  reading.  A  steamer  chair  was  placed 
before  the  fire  by  one  of  the  servants,  and  I  was  made  com- 
fortable with  pillows.  The  doctor  was  present,  and  sat  imme- 
diately behind  me  reading.  I  dropped  off  into  a  light  doze, 
and  slept  for  perhaps  thirty  minutes.  Suddenly  I  became 
conscious  of  the  fact  that  I  was  about  to  awaken  ;  I  was  in 
a  condition  where  I  was  neither  awake  nor  asleep.  I  realised 
fully  that  I  had  been  asleep,  and  I  was  equally  conscious  of 
the  fact  that  I  was  not  wide  awake.  While  in  this  peculiar 
mental  condition  I  suddenly  said  to  myself:  '  Wait  a  minute. 
Here  is  a  message  for  the  doctor.'  At  the  moment  1  fancied 
that  I  had  upon  my  lap  a  pad  of  paper,  and  I  thought  I  wrote 
upon  this  pad  with  a  pencil  the  following  words : 

"'Dear  Doctor:    Do  you  remember   Katy  McGuire,  who 

»  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  July,  1898. 


Messages  Through  Trance  295 

used  to  live  with  you  in  Chester?  She  died  in  1872.  She 
hopes  you  are  having  a  good  time  in  London.' 

"  Instantly  thereafter  I  found  myself  wide  awake,  felt  no  sur- 
prise at  not  finding  the  pad  of  paper  on  my  knee,  because  I 
then  realised  that  that  was  but  the  hallucination  of  a  dream, 
but  impressed  with  that  feature  of  my  thought  which  related 
to  the  message,  I  partly  turned  my  head,  and,  speaking  over 
my  shoulder  to  the  doctor,  said  :  '  Doctor,  I  have  a  message 
for  you.' 

*'  The  doctor  looked  up  from  the  British  Medical  Journal 
which  he  was  reading,  and  said  :   '  What 's  that  ? ' 

"  '  I  have  a  message  for  you,'  I  repeated.  *  It  is  this :  "  Dear 
Doctor:  Do  you  remember  Katy  McGuire,  who  used  to  live 
with  you  in  Chester?  She  died  in  1872.  She  hopes  you  are 
having  a  good  time  in  London.'  " 

*'  The  doctor  looked  at  me  with  amazement  written  all  over 

his   face,    and   said  :    '  Why,   what   the   devil   do   you 

mean  ? ' 

" '  I  don't  know  anything  about  it  except  that  just  before  I 
woke  up  I  was  impelled  to  receive  this  message  which  I  have 
just  delivered  to  you.' 

"  '  Did  you  ever  hear  of  Katy  McGuire  ? '  asked  the  doctor. 

"  *  Never  in  my  life.' 

"  *  Well,'  said  the  doctor,  *  that 's  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
things  I  ever  heard  of.'  " 

Dr.  De  Wolf  writes : 

"  6  Grenville  Place.  Cromwell  Road,  S.  W.,  May  4th,  1898. 
"  Dear  Sir  :  Mr.  Wilkie's  statement  is  correct  except  as  to 
unimportant  details.  My  father  practised  his  profession  of 
medicine  in  Chester,  Mass.,  for  sixty  years — dying  in  1890.  I 
was  born  in  Chester  and  lived  there  until  1857,  when  I  was  in 
Paris  studying  medicine  for  four  years.  In  1861  I  returned 
to  America  and  immediately  entered  the  army  as  surgeon  and 
served  until  the  close  of  the  war  in  1865.  In  1866  I  located 
in  Northampton,  Mass.,  where  I  practised  my  profession  until 
1873,  when  I  removed  to  Chicago. 


296  Messages  Through  Trance 

"  Chester  is  a  hill  town  in  Western  Massachusetts,  and  North- 
ampton is  seventeen  miles  distant.  While  in  Northampton  I 
was  often  at  my  father's  house — probably  every  week — and 
during  some  of  the  years  from  1866  to  1873  I  knew  Katy 
McGuire  as  a  servant  assisting  my  mother. 

"  She  was  an  obliging  and  pleasant  girl  and  always  glad  to 
see  me.  She  had  no  family  in  Chester  and  I  do  not  know 
where  she  came  from.  Neither  do  I  know  where  or  when  she 
died — but  I  know  she  is  dead." 

Dr.  De  Wolf  adds  that  Mr.  Wilkie  was  never 
within  five  hundred  miles  of  Chester.  He  adds  : 
"  Neither  of  us  were  believers  in  spiritual  mani- 
festations of  this  character,  and  this  event  so 
impressed  us  that  we  did  not  like  to  talk  about 
it,  and  it  has  been  very  seldom  referred  to  when 
we  met." 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  record  was 
made  three  years  after  the  incident.  Moreover, 
Dr.  De  Wolf,  in  answer  to  our  first  letter  and  be- 
fore receiving  from  us  Mr.  Wilkie's  account,  pro- 
fessed to  be  unable  to  "recall  with  any  definite 
recollection  "  the  circumstances.  But  there  seems 
little  reason  to  doubt  the  substantial  accuracy  of 
the  narrative.  We  cannot,  of  course,  absolutely 
exclude  the  possibility  that  Mr.  Wilkie  had  at  one 
time  heard  of  these  details  of  his  friend's  early  life. 
The  two  had  met,  as  Dr.  De  Wolf  tells  us,  soon 
after  his  removal  to  Chicago  in  1873,  when  the 
memory  of  Kitty  McGuire  would  have  been  still 
comparatively  recent.  But  in  the  circumstances 
such  an  explanation  can  scarcely  be  held  as 
plausible. 


Messages  Through  Trance  297 

In  the  next  case  the  percipient  was  fully  en- 
tranced. It  will  be  observed  that  she  did  not  claim 
to  be  "  possessed,"  but  only  to  be  in  communica- 
tion with  spirits  of  the  dead. 

No.  66.     From  Dr.  O.  Vidigal,  San  Paulo,  Brazil. 

[a  second-hand  account  of  the  case,  translated  from  the 
Revue  Spirite,  appeared  in  the  spiritualist  newspaper  Light  for 
March  21st,  1896.  Subsequently  Dr.  Hodgson  investigated 
the  case,  and  the  testimony  of  the  chief  witnesses  was  obtained 
both  orally  and  in  writing.  Dr.  Vidigal,  his  wife,  Mr.  Edward 
Silva  and  his  daughter  were  seen  and  their  evidence  obtained 
in  June,  1896.  The  original  account,  drawn  up  after  Dr, 
Hodgson's  inquiries,  and  printed  in  the  Journal^  S.  P.  R.,  for 
October,  1898,  is  extremely  long.  A  brief  summary  of  the 
case  is  therefore  printed  here.] 

In  September,  1893,  Dr.  Vidigal  went  to  the  Emigration 
Depot  and  engaged  as  a  servant  a  young  Spanish  girl  of  ten 
or  twelve  years  of  age,  who  had  arrived  in  Brazil  only  a  day 
or  two  previously.  Very  soon  after  her  arrival  at  Dr.  Vidigal's 
house  (perhaps  on  the  same  evening)  she  was  hypnotised  by  a 
visitor,  Mr.  Edward  Silva,  at  the  request  of  Dona  Vidigal's 
mother,  who  asked  that  the  girl  should  try  to  see  what  was  go- 
ing on  at  her  hacienda  some  miles  distant.  Instead  of  replying 
to  the  questions  put  to  her,  however,  the  girl  had  visions  on 
her  own  account : — beautiful  sights  as  she  described  them. 
She  then  professed  to  get  into  communication  with  her  own 
father.  Later  she  gave  a  message  purporting  to  proceed  from 
Dr.  Vidigal's  mother,  who  had  died  on  the  i6th  June,  some 
three  months  before  the  date  of  the  seance.  The  message 
was  to  the  effect  that  the  deceased  lady  had  left  a  sum  of  75 
milreis  (between  ^^3  and  £,^  in  the  pocket  of  a  dress  which 
was  still  hanging  in  her  room.  Most  of  the  dead  lady's  ward- 
robe had  been  given  away  ;  but  two  dr'^sses  still  remained  in 
the  room.  The  room  had  not,  it  is  believed,  been  entered 
since  her  death  ;  and  nothing  was  known  of  the  existence  of 


298  Messages  Through  Trance 

the  sum  of  money.  In  fact  the  family  were  rather  straitened 
at  the  time  and  in  want  of  money.  Dona  Julia  (Dr.  Vidigal's 
wife),  with  another  lady,  went  straightway  to  the  room  and 
found  sewn  up  in  one  of  the  two  dresses  the  exact  sum  of 
money  described. 

From  the  careful  enquiry  into  this  case,  there 
can  be  Httle  doubt  that  the  circumstances  are  cor- 
rectly stated.  And  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  sup- 
pose that  the  fact  communicated  was  known  to  any 
living  person.  Mr.  Silva,  it  should  be  added,  had 
made  the  acquaintance  of  Dr.  Vidigal  only  a  short 
time  previously,  and  had  never  known  the  deceased 
lady.  None  of  Dr.  Vidigal's  family  had  entered 
the  room  in  which  his  mother  had  died  since  her 
death,  and  he  is  satisfied  that  none  of  the  servants 
would  do  so. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    CASE    OF    MRS.    PIPER 

FROM  the  sporadic  instances  of  automatic  com- 
munications cited  in  the  last  chapter  we  will 
pass  to  consider  the  detailed  records  which  have 
been  preserved  of  the  utterances  of  certain  persons 
who  have  systematically  practised  automatism.  Of 
these  records  the  most  valuable,  from  the  informa- 
tion which  it  maybe  expected  ultimately  to  furnish 
as  to  the  nature  and  working  of  the  automatic  pro- 
cesses, is  the  account  of  her  own  script  kept  by  Mrs. 
Verrall,  Classical  Lecturer  at  Newnham  College, 
known  also  as  the  translator  of  Pausanias.  I  have 
used  the  words  "  may  be  expected  to  furnish  "  ad- 
visedly, for  Mrs,  Verrall's  experiments  are  still  pro- 
ceeding, and  careful  and  exhaustive  as  is  the  record 
of  the  actual  script  and  all  the  attendant  circum- 
stances, the  problems  presented  seem  to  increase 
in  complexity  with  the  increase  of  material  offered 
for  solution.  Mrs.  Verrall,  who  has  made  success- 
ful experiments  in  thought  transference,  and  also 
in  crystal  gazing  and  other  forms  of  automatism, 
began  in  January,  1901,  to  endeavour  to  obtain 
automatic  writing.  At  first  she  met  with  little  suc- 
cess, but  on  the  5th  of  March  of  the  same  year, 
299 


300  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

when  sitting  in  the  dark,  the  pencil  in  her  hand 
wrote  rapidly  a  page  or  two  (about  80  words)  of 
Latin.  From  this  time  forward  Mrs.  Verrall  has 
written  frequently.  She  is  conscious  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  actual  word  at  the  moment  of  writing, 
but  it  is  forgotten  almost  as  soon  as  written,  and 
she  never  realises  the  drift  of  the  whole  passage 
until  it  Is  read  through  after  completion.  It  is 
clear,  therefore,  that  the  messages  so  written  are  not 
composed  by  her  ordinary  consciousness.  The 
script,  as  said,  began  with  Latin,  and  Latin  for 
long  continued  to  be  the  chief  language  of  the 
communications.  Greek  also  appeared,  but  not  so 
frequently ;  most  of  the  communications  now  are 
written  in  English.  Mrs.  Verrall  reads  and  speaks 
French  fluently  ;  and  Is  also  acquainted  with  Italian 
and  German,  but  only  a  few  words  or  phrases  in 
any  of  these  languages  have  appeared.  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall Is  constantly  employed  in  reading  and  teaching 
Latin  or  Greek,  and  is,  of  course,  well  acquainted 
with  both  lanoruao^es.  But  the  Latin  and  Greek 
employed  in  the  script  are  by  no  means  the  Latin 
and  Greek  which  she  would  herself  use.  The 
Greek,  in  particular,  not  only  contains  many  words 
unknown  to  classical  Greek,  but  words  not  to  be 
found  in  any  dictionary,  or  words  Greek  in  form 
but  having  apparently  no  meaning.  Both  in  form 
and  content,  moreover,  some  of  the  Greek  re- 
sembles the  writings  of  the  Neo-Platonlsts  (Plo- 
tlnus,  Macroblus,  etc.),  with  whom,  until  recently, 
Mrs.  Verrall  was  entirely  unacquainted.     Speaking 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  301 

generally  the  messages  are  apt  to  be  incoherent,  allu- 
sive, and  enigmatical.  Many  are  extremely  difficult 
to  interpret.  As  regards  their  source,  in  no  case 
does  the  writing  purport  to  proceed  from  Mrs. 
Verrall  herself ;  it  is  apparently  addressed  to  her, 
but  the  statements  are  frequently  impersonal  in 
form,  and  are  rarely  signed.  In  some  cases  the 
signature  or  initials  of  a  dead  person  are  appended. 
There  is  very  little  evidence,  however,  to  prove  the 
identity  of  the  persons  purporting  to  communicate. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  writing  in  many  cases  seems 
to  show  knowledge  of  the  thoughts  and  experiences 
of  others  which  Mrs.  Verrall  could  not  have  ac- 
quired by  normal  means. 

In  the  following  case  it  would  appear  that  the 
intelligence  which  inspired  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  was 
able  to  satisfy  a  test  propounded  by  Dr.  Hodgson 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

No.  67.     From  Mrs.  Verrall 

On  the  31st  January,  1902,  Mrs.  Verrall,  when  about  to 
accompany  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  and  Mr.  Piddington  to  a  meet- 
ing, was  seized  with  a  sudden  desire  to  write,  and  withdrew 
for  the  purpose.     The  writing  produced  was  as  follows  : 

"Panopticon  G(paipag  arirocXXai  avvdey/uai  fAvGriuov. 
ri  ovH  ediSooSy  volatile  ferrum — pro  telo  impinget." 

The  writing  was  shown  to  Dr.  Verrall  on  the  following  day, 
but  neither  he  nor  Mrs.  Verrall  could  interpret  its  significance. 
The  first  word.  Panopticon,  though  not  an  actual  Greek  word, 
is  derived  from  the  Greek,  and  presumably  means  "  all 
seeing.'"     The  third  word  in  the  sentence  is  rare,  the  fourth, 

'  The  word  Panopticon  was  used  by  Bentham  to  denote  a  building  (school 
or  prison)  so  constructed  that  a  single  person  in  the  centre  could  supervise  a 


302  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

though  correctly  formed  is  not  found  in  any  extant  Greek 
writing.  The  whole  sentence  appears  to  mean,  "  The  all-seeing 
of  the  sphere  fosters  a  mystic  joint-reception.  Why  did  you  not 
give  it  ?  The  flying  iron  ["  iron  "  used  for  "  weapon  "]  will  hit." 
Volatile  ferrum  (literally  "the  flying  iron  ")  is  used  by  Virgil 
for  a  spear,  and  Mrs,  Verrall  recorded  in  her  note-book  that 
the  word  was  probably  meant  to  be  translated  "spear," 

In  Boston,  U,  S.  A,,  on  the  28th  January,  three  days  be- 
fore this  incident,  Dr.  Hodgson  held  a  sitting  with  Mrs. 
Piper,  the  well-known  trance  medium,  at  which  an  allusion 
was  made  by  the  "  control "  '  to  Mrs,  Verrall's  daughter. 
Hodgson  asked  if  the  "  control"  could  make  Miss  Helen  Ver- 
rall see  him  {i.e.,  the  "  control  ")  holding  a  spear  in  his  hand. 
The  control  asked,  through  the  automatic  writing,  "  Why  a 
sphere  ?  "  and  Hodgson  repeated  ''''spear."  At  the  next  sitting, 
on  February  4th,  the  control  claimed  that  he  had  made  him- 
self visible  to  Miss  Verrall  with  a  "  sphear  "  (so  spelt  in  the 
trance  writing). 

It  is  certainly  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclusion 
that  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  of  the  31st  January, — 
a  date  intermediate  between  these  two  seances, — 
with  its  curious  enigmatical  allusions  to  "  sphere  " 
and  "  spear,"  had  reference  to  this  transatlantic 
experiment.^ 

In  another  case  the  message  given  purported 
definitely  to  come  from  the  dead.      Mrs.  Verrall, 

number  of  radiating  galleries  or  rows  of  desks.  The  late  Millbank  prison 
was  constructed  on  the  Panopticon  principle.  See  Wallas'  Life  of  Francis 
Place,  p,  104, 

'  I.e.  the  spirit  assumed  to  be  controlling,  or  speaking  through  Mrs.  Piper's 
organism.  The  control  had  already  claimed  to  have  some  knowledge  of 
Miss  Verrall — hence  the  introduction  of  her  name  in  the  test,  instead  of 
Mrs.  Verrall's.  For  an  account  of  Mrs.  Piper's  trance  communications,  see 
the  latter  part  of  this  chapter. 

''Proceedings,  S.P.R.,  vol.  xx.,  p.  214, 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  303 

in  December,  1900,  had  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Mrs.  "  Forbes,"  also  an  automatic  writer ;  and 
thenceforward  their  respective  scripts  contained 
many  apparent  allusions  to  each  other's  concerns. 
One  of  the  "controls"  purporting  to  communicate 
through  Mrs.  Forbes  was  her  son  Talbot — who 
had  been  killed  in  the  Boer  War. 

No.  68.     From  Mrs.  Verrall 

Mrs.  Verrall  had  no  communication  with  Mrs.  Forbes 
between  i6th  April,  and  October,  1901.  But  on  the  28th 
August  of  that  year  her  hand  wrote  : 

"  Signa  sigillo.  Conifera  arbos  in  horto  iam  insita  omina 
sibimet  ostendit."  * 

"  The  script,"  Mrs.  Verrall  writes,  "  was  signed  with  a 
scrawl  and  three  drawings  representing  a  sword,  a  suspended 
bugle,  and  a  pair  of  scissors  ;  thus  : 


"  A  suspended  bugle  surmounted  by  a  crown  is  the  badge  of 
the  regiment  to  which  Talbot  Forbes  belonged.  Mrs.  Forbes 
has  in  her  garden  four  or  five  small  fir-trees  grown  from  seed 
sent  to  her  from  abroad  by  her  son;  these  are  called  by  her 
Talbot's  trees.  This  fact  was  entirely  unknown  to  me.  On 
August  28th  Mrs.  Forbes'  script  contained  the  statement, 
purporting  to  come  from  her  son,  that  he  was  looking  for  a 

•  Trans.:  "  Sign  with  the  seal.  The  fir-tree  that  has  already  been 
planted  in  the  garden  gives  its  own  portent." 


304  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

'  sensitive '  who  wrote  automatically,  in  order  that  he  might 
obtain  corroboration  for  her  own  writing,  and  it  concluded 
with  the  remark  that  he  must  now  leave  her  in  order  to  join 
E.G.  in  controlling  the  sensitive.  The  hour  of  her  writing  on 
August  28th  does  not  appear,  but  as  she  usually  writes  early 
in  the  day,  and  as  mine  of  the  same  date  was  at  10.30  p.m.,  it 
is  probable  that  hers  preceded  mine. 

"  It  thus  appears  that  on  a  certain  day  *  Talbot  Forbes  '  in 
Mrs,  Forbes'  script  declared  that  he  was  seeking  and  implied 
that  he  had  found  another  automatic  writer  through  whom  to 
communicate  with  her.'  On  the  same  day  a  statement  was 
made  in  my  script  about  fir-trees  planted  in  a  garden  which 
had  a  meaning  for  Mrs.  Forbes,  and  a  special  connexion  with 
her  automatic  experiments,  and  the  signature  of  this  script,  to 
which  attention  had  been  directed,  represented  partially  the 
badge  of  Talbot  Forbes'  regiment,  together  with  a  sword.'' 
As  bearing  on  the  question  whether  such  a  combination  is 
likely  to  have  been  accidental,  I  may  say  that  on  no  other 
occasion  has  a  bugle  appeared  in  the  script,  nor  has  there  been 
any  other  reference  to  a  planted  fir-tree."  * 

The  coincidence  of  the  two  writings  was  only 
brought  to  Hght  accidentally,  in  November,  owing 
to  Mrs.  Forbes,  in  talking  with  Mrs.  Verrall  about 
her  son,  happening  to  describe  the  regimental 
badge.  Mrs.  Verrall  then  remembered  the  draw- 
ing above  reproduced,  which  had  puzzled  her  at 
the  time.  The  nail  from  which  the  bugle  is  hung 
is  clearly  indicated  in  the  original."^ 

'  The  actual  words  are,  /  am  looking  for  a  sensitive  who  writes  to  tell 
Father  to  believe  I  can  write  through  you.  .  .  .  /  have  to  sit  with  our 
friend  Edmund  to  control  the  sensitive. — (Signed  with  Talbot  Forbes's 
initials.) 

'  No  explanation  of  the  open  scissors  has  been  suggested. 

2  Except  once  subsequently,  on  November  27th,  1901,  after  verification  of 
the  incident,  when  it  was  quoted  as  an  encouragement, 

*  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xx.,  222. 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  305 

In  two  or  three  instances  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  has 
apparently  referred  to  future  events.  An  example 
of  these  prophetic  intimations  will  be  given  in  the 
next  chapter. 

Mrs.  Verrall,  it  will  have  been  observed,  during 
the  process  of  automatic  writing  retains  her  or- 
dinary consciousness,  and  whatever  view  we  may 
hold  of  the  nature  of  the  "  communicator,"  it  seems 
probable  that  this  circumstance  tends  to  embarrass 
the  process  of  communication.  At  any  rate  the 
most  striking  messages  of  this  type  have  been  ob- 
tained when  the  automatist  is  in  a  condition  of 
trance,  and  the  ordinary  personality  altogether  in 
abeyance,  as  in  the  instance  of  Dr.  Vidigal's  servant 
cited  in  the  last  chapter.  Other  cases  of  the  kind, 
in  which  messages  purporting  to  emanate  from  the 
dead  have  been  given  have  been  investigated,  of  re- 
cent years  by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research.^ 
But  isolated  instances  possess  comparatively  little 
weight,  partly  because  we  can  rarely  be  sure  of  the 
adequacy  of  the  record,  if  it  stands  alone,  but 
chiefly  because  of  the  much  greater  scope  offered 
for  chance  coincidence,  if  only  the  successes  are 
noted.  What  is  desired  in  such  cases  is  a  full 
record  of  all  the  utterances  of  the  entranced  per- 
son, such  as  Mrs.  Verrall  has  kept  of  her  own 
automatic  writing.  A  few  such  records  had  been 
kept  before   1882.     Two  of  the  most  notable  are 

'  See,  especially,  the  case  of  Wilson  Quint,  recorded  in  Proceedings,  viii., 
206,  Mr.  Jobson's  c3L.se  {Journal,  November,  1S98),  and  the  case  recorded 
by  Colonel  Taylor  and  Mr.  Piddington  {Journal,  July,  1903). 


3o6  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

those  concerned  with  the  utterances  of  Stainton 
Moses,  and  of  Adele  Maginot,  the  clairvoyant  sub- 
ject of  Alphonse  Cahagnet,  a  French  magnetist  in 
the  middle  of  the  last  century.  In  the  case  of  Stain- 
ton  Moses,  however,  it  does  not  appear  that  any 
verifiable  statements  were  given  in  his  automatic 
writings  as  to  facts  outside  the  possible  scope  of 
the  medium's  knowledge.  The  dates,  names,  and 
other  particulars  could  in  every  case  have  been 
procured  from  published  biographies,  the  obituary 
notices  in  the  newspapers,  or  equally  accessible 
sources.^ 

The  revelations  of  Adele  Maginot  are  much 
more  striking.  Adele  professed  in  the  trance  to 
see  the  figures  of  deceased  friends  of  persons  who 
came  to  consult  her.  She  would  describe  with  ac- 
curacy their  personal  appearance,  character,  and 
the  diseases  from  which  they  had  suffered,  and 
could  occasionally  indicate  something  of  their  his- 
tory and  their  opinions.  But  all  the  verifiable  de- 
tails given  were  known  to  the  persons  present ;  and 
there  seems  no  reason,  in  the  case  of  Cahagnet's 
subject,  to  go  beyond  the  hypothesis  of  thought 
transference  from  the  living. 

The  case  of  Mrs.  Piper,  the  chief  of  the  trance 
mediums  whose  utterances  have  been  investigated 
by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  presents  a 
much  more  complicated  problem.     Mrs.  Piper  is  an 

'  See  my  discussion  of  these  communications  in  Studies  in  Psychical  Re- 
search, pp.  125-133. 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  307 

American  lady  who  first  went  into  a  spontaneous 
trance  some  time  in  1884,  at  a  consultation  for 
medical  purposes  with  a  professional  clairvoyant 
named  Cocke.  Her  first  control  was  an  Indian 
girl  named  "Chlorine."  Mrs.  Piper  from  1884 
onward  has  habitually  fallen  into  a  trance  state. 
From  the  end  of  1885  until  the  present  time  she 
has  been  almost  continuously  under  the  observation 
of  the  S.  P.  R.,  and  for  many  years  all  her  seances 
have  been  given  under  the  guidance  of  Dr.  Hodg- 
son or  other  members  of  the  Society,  and  the  re- 
sults carefully  recorded. 

Mr.  Cocke  himself,  the  clairvoyant  referred  to, 
was  accustomed  to  rely  in  his  medical  practice  upon 
the  "spirit"  of  a  French  doctor  named  Finne. 
After  several  other  "  controls " —  Mrs.  Siddons, 
Longfellow,  Commodore  Vanderbilt,  and  John 
Sebastian  Bach — had  in  turn  usurped  her  organism, 
the  chief  control  of  Mrs.  Piper's  trance  finally  gave 
himself  out  as  a  French  doctor  named  Phinuit — a 
name  apparently  suggested  by  that  of  Mr.  Cocke's 
control. 

Dr.  Phinuit's  own  account  of  himself  is  that  he 
is  a  French  physician,  who  was  born  at  Marseilles 
about  1790,  and  died  about  i860.  He  has  given 
various  particulars  about  his  birth,  education,  and 
life  in  Paris,  but  the  enquiries  which  have  been 
made  have  failed  to  reveal  any  trace  of  such  a  per- 
son as  having  lived  and  died  as  stated.  Moreover, 
it  appears  that,  though  Phinuit  is  sometimes  very 
felicitous  in  diagnosing  the  ailments  of  those  who 


3o8  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

consult  him,  his  medical  knowledge  is  extremely 
limited ;  he  does  not  know  the  Latin  names  of  the 
various  drugs  which  he  prescribes,  and  cannot  recog- 
nise common  medicinal  herbs  when  shown  to  him. 
In  other  words,  he  has  given  no  indications  of  pos- 
sessing any  scientific  knowledge  of  medicine. 
Moreover,  though  professing  to  be  the  spirit  of  a 
French  doctor,  his  knowledge  of  French  appears  to 
extend  only  to  a  few  simple  phrases,  and  a  slight 
accent,  occasionally  serviceable  in  disguising  a 
bad  shot  at  a  proper  name.  This  ignorance  of  his 
native  language  is,  he  explains,  due  to  his  having 
lived  for  some  years  in  Metz,  where  there  were 
many  English  residents  !  When  all  these  suspicious 
circumstances,  especially  the  similarity  between 
the  names  of  Finne  and  Phinuit,  were  brought  by 
Dr.  Hodgson  to  Phinuit's  notice,  that  personage 
professed  to  remember  that  his  real  name  was  not 
after  all  Phinuit,  but  Alaen.  Further,  he  betrayed 
some  uncertainty  whether  he  had  been  born  at  Mar- 
seilles or  Metz,  and  whether  he  had  passed  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  at  Metz  or  Paris.  It  seems, 
then,  that  we  need  not  seriously  consider  whether 
Phinuit  is  in  very  deed  the  spirit  he  would  be 
taken  for. 

Mrs.  Piper  in  ordinary  life  knows  nothing  of  her 
sayings  and  doings  in  the  trance  state,  and  the 
above  account  implies,  of  course,  no  reflection  on 
her  honesty.  But  in  attempting  to  estimate  the 
significance  of  the  more  striking  impersonations 
which  have  characterised  Mrs.  Piper's  later  trances, 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  309 

it  is  important  to  remember  that  the  first  imper- 
sonation of  the  kind,  though  showing  considerable 
dramatic  coherence  and  individuahty,  was  almost 
certainly  fictitious.  Mrs.  Piper's  clairvoyance  is  on 
the  same  general  lines  as  that  of  Cahagnet's  sub- 
ject. Her  trance  consciousness  "sees"  or  receives 
impressions  from  deceased  friends  of  those  who 
come  to  consult  her.  The  messages  which  she 
gives  generally  purport  to  pass  through  the  mind 
of  the  chief  control.  Phinuit,  then  for  a  time 
George  Pelham,  and  now  "Rector"  and  Richard 
Hodgson,  have  each  in  turn  thus  professed  to  act 
as  interpreter  and  mouthpiece  for  the  spirits  of  the 
dead  who  throng  round  the  entranced  medium.  In 
her  earlier  trances  the  utterances  were  mostly  oral. 
Since  1892  they  have  been  mainly,  and  of  late 
years  almost  entirely,  written.  The  strictest  pre- 
cautions have  been  taken  to  exclude  the  possibility 
of  fraud  ;  for  years  past  all  sittings  have  been  ar- 
ranged by  some  member  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research,  the  visitors  have  been  introduced  anony- 
mously or  under  assumed  names ;  and  full  notes 
have  been  taken  of  all  the  remarks  made  and  other 
attendant  circumstances.  But  the  real  proof  that 
fraud  is  not  the  explanation  lies  in  the  nature  of 
the  revelations  actually  made.  The  things  which 
a  private  enquiry  agency  could  conceivably  ascer- 
tain— names,  dates,  and  other  externals  of  personal 
history — are  precisely  the  things  which  are  gener- 
ally lacking  in  Mrs.  Piper's  communications.  What 
she  does  give — descriptions  of  the  diseases,  personal 


3  TO  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

idiosyncrasies,  thoughts,  feelings,  and  characters  of 
the  sitter  and  his  friends ;  their  loves,  hates,  quar- 
rels, sympathies,  and  mutual  relationships ;  trivial 
but  significant  incidents  in  their  past  histories, 
and  the  like — are  precisely  the  things  on  which 
private  enquiry  would  find  it  most  difficult  to 
obtain  information,  and  which  would,  further, 
be  most  difficult,  when  obtained,  to  preserve  in  the 
memory. 

But  an  illustration  will  make  the  case  clearer. 
The  Piper  records  are  so  voluminous,  most  of  the 
sittings  having  been  recorded  in  full,  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  quote  more  than  the  records  of  a  single 
sitting  at  length.  I  select  the  following  case  partly 
because  the  circumstance  that  the  sitter  was  only 
on  a  visit  to  America  practically  rules  out  the  possi- 
bility of  private  enquiry  on  Mrs.  Piper's  part  Into 
his  circumstances,  partly  because  the  nature  of  the 
information  given  is  in  other  ways  significant.  The 
narrator,  Mr.  J.  T.  Clarke,  had  left  England,  in  the 
autumn  of  1889,  for  a  hurried  business  visit  to 
America.  There  he  had  an  interview  with  Mrs. 
Piper.  Mr.  Clarke  had  friends  in  Boston, 
some  of  whom  had  had  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper, 
but  his  wife  and  children  had  never  been  in 
America. 

Notes  of  this  seance  were  taken  by  Dr.  Hodg- 
son, and  Mr.  Clarke  after  the  seance  added  his 
comments.  These  comments,  or  the  substance  of 
them  in  an  abbreviated  form,  are  placed  in  the 
account  which  follows  between  brackets. 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  311 

No.  69.     From  Mr.  J.  T.  Clarke 
Chocorua,   New   Hampshire,  in   House   of   Dr.  William  James, 

September  20,  1889. 

Mr.  Clarke  fixes  his  mind  steadily  upon  a  certain  house, 
and  visualises  members  of  family  ;  of  this  no  recognition  by 
medium,  who  begins  : 

(i)  "Why!  I  know  you!  I  have  seen  your  influence 
somewhere  before  !     What  are  you  doing  over  here  ?  " 

[Mr.  Clarke  explains  that  some  intimate  friends  had  had 
sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper,  in  the  course  of  which  his  name 
and  that  of  his  mother  had  been  mentioned.] 

(2)  "  Oh  !  There  is  lots  of  trouble  over  you,  black  clouds 
all  over  you ;  but  I  see  light  beyond  ;  you  will  come  out  all 
right.  It  is  financial  trouble  that  I  mean;  you  will  wade 
through  it  all  right  in  the  end." 

[Correct.  My  visit  to  America  was  determined  by  a  finan- 
cial failure,  the  loss  from  which  I  was  then  endeavouring  to 
minimise.] 

"  How  long  hence  ? " 

(3)  "  Four  months  or  four  months  and  a  half.  There  are 
parties  that  have  not  dealt  honourably  with  you." 

[Mr.  Clarke  adds  that  he  had  at  the  time  a  lurking  distrust 
— afterwards  proved  to  be  unfounded — of  the  "parties"  re- 
ferred to.] 

(4)  "  I  see  your  lady  in  the  spirit,  your  mother — have  seen 
her  before." 

[There  followed  a  clear  account  of  my  own  conception 
of  my  mother,  recently  deceased,  whose  constant  presence 
in  my  mind  readily  accounts  for  the  frequent  mentions 
of  her.] 

(5)  "  You  've  also  got  a  lady  in  the  body,  your  wife.  You 
won't  find  her  very  well." 

[Prophecy  wrong.     My  wife  never  better  in  health.] 

(6)  "  Do  you  know  a  man  named  Williams — no,  wait  ! 
Williamson  ?  [Reply,  "  No."]  Tall,  rather  dark,  first  name 
Henery  [sic].  He  will  come  into  your  surroundings  soon — he 
will  have  something  to  do  with  your  papers  and  with  law.    He 


312  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

will  look  after  your  interests  and  get  you  out  all  right.    You  will 
meet  him  very  soon — within  a  few  weeks," 

[Mr.  Clarke  had  written  down  in  his  note-book  some  days 
previously  the  name  of  the  lawyer — Lambertson — entrusted 
with  his  defence  ;  but  had  completely  forgotten  it.] 

(7)  "  Part  of  your  interest  is  in  the  ground  ;  you  came  near 
being  'left'  in  this  business,  but  are  not  altogether." 

[Correct,     Property  consisted  of  a  town  lot  and  buildings, 
and  I  certainly  felt  that  I  had  come  near  losing  it.] 
"  Tell  me  about  my  mother." 

(8)  "Your  mother  is  with  us.  She  is  here  and  happy  in 
the  spirit." 

[This,  I  take  it,  is  the  way  that  mediums,  burdened  with  the 
conventional  views  and  the  phrases  customary  in  spiritualistic 
circles,  find  most  natural  to  express  the  conception  which 
they  receive  from  another  mind  of  a  person  being  a  memory, 
an  image  of  the  mind  as  opposed  to  a  living  reality.] 

(9)  "  Who  is  this  M.  your  cousin  ?  Your  mother  says  she  is 
not  very  well.  She  is  getting  better,  but  she  will  continue 
weak." 

[The  health  of  the  person  referred  to,  though  improved  at 
the  time,  had  caused  both  myself  and  my  mother  much 
solicitude.] 

"  Can  you  see  my  children  ? " 

(10)  "  Wait.  .  .  .  Who  is  this  about  you  that  is  musical,  that 
plays  the  piano  [imitating  action  of  fingers]  ?  Ah,  it  is  your 
lady  in  the  body.  She  is  not  very  well  just  now — she  is  suf- 
fering from  rheumatism." 

[My  wife  plays  the  piano  much.     She  was  well  and  has 
never  suffered  from  rheumatism.] 
"  Do  you  see  my  children  ?" 

(11)  "No,  not  at  all  yet  ;  I  shall  directly.  Wait.  Who  is 
this  Fred,  that  comes  together  with  your  mother  ?  " 

[A  cousin  lost  at  sea  ten  years  ago,  under  peculiarly  shocking 
circumstances.     His  death  made  a  great  impression  upon  me.] 
"  Is  he  not  your  cousin  ?  " 
"Yes." 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  313 

(12)  "  He  comes  with  your  mother.  She  knows  him  better 
now  than  she  did  before  death.  .  .  .  Who  is  this  uncle 
of  yours,  named  John  ?  " 

"  I  have  no  uncle  John." 

"Yes,  yes,  you  have — the  man  that  married  your  aunt." 

"  No,  you  are  wrong  ;  the  man  that  married  my  aunt  was 

called  Philip." 

"Well,  I  think  I  know."     [Changes  subject,  grumbling.] 
[I  had  entirely  forgotten  for  the  moment  that  an  aunt  of 

mine  had  indeed  married  a  man  named  John,  with  whom  I 

had  formerly  had  some  correspondence.      I  did  not  recollect 

this  until  the  following  day.] 

(13)  "Why  !  you  are  a  funny  fellow — you  are  covered  with 
paint  from  head  to  foot.     Your  mother  says  it  is  too  bad." 

[I  had  been  much  interested  in  painting  the  walls  of  a  room 
in  the  house  of  my  friend  for  some  days  previously.] 

(14)  "  I  'd  like  to  know  who  this  H.  is  that  you  are  going  to 
see.  Take  good  care  of  that  man.  He  is  a  tricky  one.  Don't 
let  him  get  you  into  his  power," 

[This  is  an  altogether  unjust  accusation,  based  upon  an 
unwarrantable  distrust  entertained  by  me  at  the  time.] 

(15)  "  Here  is  your  Rebecca  !  " 

[Clarke  and  Hodgson  both  ask  "  Mine  ? "  each  having 
relatives  of  that  name,] 

[To  Clarke  :]  "  Your  Rebecca,  your  little  girl.  She  runs 
around  and  gives  her  hand  to  every  one  about  her." 

"  Is  there  another  little  one  like  her  ?" 

**  Yes,  there  are  three  of  your  people  together  there  now." 

[My  wife  and  two  children.] 

(16)  "  How  is  Rebecca  ?  " 
*'  Very  well." 

"  Where  is  she  now  ?  " 

"She  is  in  the  spirit.  That  is  to  say,  her  spirit's  here,  but 
her  body  is  at  a  distance." 

[My  child  was  in  Germany  at  the  time,  and  thus  lived 
rather  in  my  memory  than  in  my  daily  view.  Hence,  al- 
though the  medium  felt  that  she  was  alive  ("  Her  body  is  at 


314  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

a  distance  ")  her  personality  was  yet  spoken  of  as  "  in  the 
spirit."] 

(17)  "  You  will  soon  have  a  surprise.  It  is  a  photograph  of 
your  boy  that  is  being  made  for  you.  It  is  unfinished  yet, 
but  will  surprise  you." 

[I  was  at  that  time  taking  photographs  which  were  not  to 
be  developed,  and  consequently  could  not  be  seen,  until  my 
return  to  England.] 

(18)  "  There  are  five  of  you  ;  yourself,  your  two  children, 
your  lady  in  the  body,  and  your  lady  in  the  spirit." 

[This  is  my  constant  feeling — the  "we  are  seven"  of  my 
surroundings.] 

(19)  "  What  are  these  tickets  that  you  have  in  your  pocket  ? 
There  are  figures  on  them  stamped  in  red,  and  they  are 
signed  with  names  underneath.  They  will  be  of  value  to  you, 
you  will  get  something  out  of  them." 

"  No,  I  have  nothing  of  the  kind  in  my  pocket." 
[Mr.  Clarke  explains  that  he  afterwards  found  he  actually 
had  in  an  inside  pocket  two  cheques  endorsed  on  the  back  as 
described,  and  stamped  with  large  and  peculiar  red  numbers.] 

(20)  "  Where  is  my  wife  ?  " 

"  She  is  across  country.     She  has  been  away." 
[My  wife  had  intended  to  go  to  Germany,  from  England, 
soon  after  my  sudden  departure  for  the  United  States  ;  I  did 
not  positively  know  that  she  was   away  from  home,  but  I 
should  have  assumed  it  as  well-nigh  certain.] 

(21)  "  There  is  a  young  man  and  an  old  lady  with  her." 
[There  followed  an  accurate  interpretation  of  my  estimate 

of  the  characters  of  these  two  persons,  who  I  knew  must  be 
together  with  my  wife].  ".  .  .  The  young  man  is  coming 
back  again  ;  he  is  going  still  more  across  country." 

[Correct.  I  knew  that  my  brother-in-law  had  to  return 
from  the  Tyrol  to  his  home  on  the  Baltic] 

(22)  .  .  .  [Further  reference  to  my  mother,  describing 
her  character,  and  representing  her  as  she  lives  in  my 
memory.]  ".  .  .  That  is  an  old-fashioned  portrait  of  her, 
not  very  good,  but  better  than  nothing." — "Where?    Which 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  315 

one?" — "  It  is  at  home.     I  mean  the  one  with  the  collarette." 
[A  sufficient  indication  of  one  of  the  few  portraits  of  my 
mother.] 

(23)  "  Who  is  this  funny  footed  fellow  of  yours,  the  one  with 
the  club  feet  and  the  funny  shoes  ?  Your  mother  says  it  is 
an  injustice  to  you,  too  bad — but  it  will  come  out  all  right." 

[Correct.  My  boy  was  born  with  club  feet,  and  wears 
machine  boots,] 

(24)  "Why  ?     You  Ve  changed  your  house  recently." 
"No." 

"Yes,  your  lady  has  changed  her  house." 

"Well,  you  may  mean  that  she  is  away  from  her  house  ;  that 
is  true.     Now  describe  the  house  in  which  we  live  generally." 

"  Yes.  Wait  a  minute.  I  will  go  into  the  door  at  the  side. 
What  is  that  tall,  old-fashioned  thing  in  the  back  room  ?  Ah, 
it  is  a  big  clock." 

[Correct.] 

(25)  "  Now  go  into  the  kitchen." 

"  Yes.  No  one  is  here  now  [lo  p.m.  in  New  Hampshire — 3 
A.M.  in  England].  A  fat  person,  a  cook,  has  been  here.  Big 
man,  with  a  dark  moustache,  has  also  been  here  a  good  while 
during  the  day,  and  has  left  his  influence  here." 

"Who  is  he?" 

"  He  has  been  put  to  watch  the  place." 

"  Is  he  trustworthy  and  faithful  ?  " 

*■  Yes,  he  is  trustworthy." 

[Interesting  error.  It  was  arranged  on  my  leaving  Eng- 
land— in  case  the  servant  should  object  to  being  left  in  the 
house  alone  during  the  absence  of  my  wife  in  Germany — that 
a  policeman  should  be  hired  to  guard  the  house  and  to  live  in 
it.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  there  was  no  man  in  the 
house] 

(26)  "  You  have  lost  your  knife  !  Your  mother  tells  me  that." 
[This  loss  had  vexed  me,  as  the  knife  had  been  made  to 

order.     I  had  lost  it  sliortly  before  leaving  England.] 

(27)  "Where  is  it?" 

"Oh,  it  is  gone  ;  you  will  never  see  it  again." 


3i6  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

[The  prophecy  proved  to  be  signally  wrong,  as  the  knife  was 
restored  to  me  soon  after  my  return.] 

(28)  "  Describe  the  other  room  on  the  ground  floor  now." 

*'  Yes.  I  see  a  long  piano.  What  is  that  high  thing  that 
comes  forward  on  top  of  the  piano  ?  Ah,  I  see  ;  it  is  the  lid." 

[Clock  and  piano  are  respectively  chief  features  of  the  two 
rooms]. 

(29)  "What  colour  is  the  wall  paper  of  this  room  ?  " 

"  Let  me  see.   It  is  yellowish  with  gold  pattern  and  gold  spots." 
[Correct.] 

"  In  short,  many  things  that  I  knew,  even  some  things  that  I 
had  forgotten,  the  clairvoyant  could  tell  me  correctly,  albeit 
somewhat  confusedly.  She  made  all  the  mistakes  that  I  should 
have  made  at  the  time,  and  her  prophecies  were  quite  as  erron- 
eous as  any  that  I  might  have  invented  myself. 

"  One  sees  the  contents  of  one's  mind,  as  in  a  warped  and 
flawy  mirror  ;  or,  to  take  the  case  from  the  other  side,  the 
secondary  consciousness  of  the  medium  seems  able  to  get  occa. 
sional  glimpses  of  the  panorama  of  one's  memory  as  through 
the  rents  in  a  veil.  No  doubt  Phinuit  gives  the  fullest  and 
best  results  when  left  unquestioned  to  tell  what  he  can.  If 
pressed  to  fill  up  the  broad  expanses  of  the  picture  remaining 
between  the  patches  which  he  sees,  he  is  obliged,  despite  his 
pretensions  to  supernatural  knowledge,  to  take  refuge  in  awk- 
ward evasions  and  '  shufHing,' — in  guesswork,  often  clearly 
based  upon  hints  unconsciously  afforded  by  the  sitter, — or, 
when  all  else  fails,  in  incoherent  and  unmeaning  talk.  Yet, 
while  fully  recognising  these  repelling  features  of  the  manifes- 
tations, I  am  yet  convinced  that  there  is  enough  that  is  genu- 
ine remaining  to  prove  the  existence  of  a  direct  communication 
between  mind  and  mind  during  the  trance  state.  A  single 
success  exceeding  the  limits  of  coincidence  (and  it  is  undeni- 
able that  there  are  many  such)  proves  the  possibility  ;  the 
multitude  of  failures  merely  indicates  the  difficulty  and  un- 
certainty.' J.  T.  C." 

'  Proceedings^  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  569-574. 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  317 

It  will  be  seen  that  here  most  of  the  statements 
made,  except  those  which  concern  the  future,  were 
correct.  No  true  statement  was  made,  however, 
on  any  matter  not  known  to  Mr.  Clarke.  We  need 
not  look  further  than  telepathy  for  an  explanation 
in  such  a  case.  Indeed,  as  Mr.  Clarke  points  out, 
one  or  two  of  the  statements  made,  though  they 
failed  to  correspond  to  the  facts  of  the  case,  sug- 
gest rather  strongly  that  Phinuit  was  reproducing 
the  thoughts — conscious  or  latent — of  the  sitter. 

It  is  not  so  easy,  however,  to  explain  by  thought 
transference  the  following  case  : 

No.  70,     From  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  F.R.S. 

**  It  happens  that  an  uncle  of  mine  in  London,  now  quite  an 
old  man,  and  one  of  a  surviving  three  out  of  a  very  large 
family,  had  a  twin  brother  who  died  some  twenty  or  more 
years  ago.  I  interested  him  generally  in  the  subject,  and 
wrote  K)  ask  if  he  would  lend  me  some  relic  of  this  brother. 
By  morning  post  on  a  certain  day  I  received  a  curious  old 
gold  watch,  which  this  brother  had  worn  and  been  fond  of  ; 
and  that  same  morning,  no  one  in  the  house  having  seen  or 
knowing  anything  about  it,  I  handed  it  to  Mrs.  Piper  when  in 
a  state  of  trance. 

"  I  was  told  almost  immediately  that  it  had  belonged  to  one 
of  my  uncles — one  that  had  been  mentioned  before  as  having 
died  from  the  effects  of  a  fall — one  that  had  been  very  fond 
of  Uncle  Robert,  the  name  of  the  survivor — that  the  watch 
was  now  in  possession  of  this  same  Uncle  Robert,  with  whom 
he  was  anxious  to  communicate.  After  some  difficulty  and 
many  wrong  attempts  Dr.  Phinuit  caught  the  name,  Jerry, 
short  for  Jeremiah,  and  said  emphatically,  as  if  a  third  person 
was  speaking  :  '  This  is  my  watch,  and  Robert  is  my  brother, 
and  I  am  here.  Uncle  Jerry,  my  watch.'  All  this  at  the  first 
sitting  on  the  very  morning  the  v/atch  had  arrived  by  post,  no 


31 8  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

one  but  myself  and  a  shorthand  clerk  who  happened  to  have 
been  introduced  for  the  first  time  at  this  sitting  by  me,  and 
whose  antecedents  are  well  known  to  me,  being  present." 

[Then,  in  response  to  Sir  O.  Lodge's  request  for  incidents 
in  Uncle  Jerry's  boyhood,  60  or  70  years  before]  "  Uncle 
Jerry  recalled  episodes,  such  as  swimming  the  creek  when  they 
were  boys  together,  and  running  some  risk  of  getting  drowned; 
killing  a  cat  in  Smith's  field  ;  the  possession  of  a  small  rifle, 
and  of  a  long  peculiar  skin,  like  a  snake-skin,  which  he  thought 
was  now  in  the  possession  of  Uncle  Robert. 

"  All  these  facts  have  been  more  or  less  completely  verified. 
But  the  interesting  thing  is  that  his  twin  brother,  from  whom 
I  got  the  watch,  and  with  whom  I  was  thus  in  a  sort  of  com- 
munication, could  not  remember  them  all.  He  recollected 
something  about  swimming  the  creek,  though  he  himself  had 
merely  looked  on.  He  had  a  distinct  recollection  of  having 
had  the  snake-skin,  and  of  a  box  in  which  it  was  kept,  though 
he  does  not  know  where  it  is  now.  But  he  altogether  denied 
killing  the  cat,  and  could  not  recall  Smith's  field. 

"  His  memory,  however,  is  decidedly  failing  him,  and  he 
was  good  enough  to  write  to  another  brother,  Frank,  living  in 
Cornwall,  an  old  sea  captain,  and  asked  if  he  had  any  better 
remembrance  of  the  facts — of  course  not  giving  any  inexplic- 
able reasons  for  asking.  The  result  of  this  enquiry  was  tri- 
umphantly to  vindicate  the  existence  of  Smith's  field  as  a  place 
near  their  home,  where  they  used  to  play,  in  Barking,  Essex  ; 
and  the  killing  of  a  cat  by  another  brother  was  also  recollected  ; 
while  of  the  swimming  of  the  creek,  near  a  mill-race,  full 
details  were  given,  Frank  and  Jerry  being  the  heroes  of  that 
foolhardy  episode."' 

This  account  may,  indeed,  conceivably  be  ex- 
plained  as  the  result  of  a  process  of  telepathic  con- 
veyance from  Sir  Oliver  Lodge's  mind  of  things 
heard  in  boyhood  and  long  ago  forgotten.     Sir  O. 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol,  vi.,  pp.  458-60. 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  319 

Lodge  himself,  however,  has  no  recollection  of 
having  heard  of  these  incidents,  and  regards  this 
explanation  as  extremely  improbable.  And  it  is 
clear  that  each  fresh  case  to  which  this  hypothesis 
has  to  be  applied  increases  the  difficulty  of  the  ex- 
planation. Sir  O.  Lodge  enumerates  in  the  Eng- 
lish observations  of  1888-9  "^  ^^^^  than  forty-one 
instances  in  which  details  were  reproduced  by 
Phinuit  which  were  "  unknown  to,  or  forgotten  by, 
or  unknowable  to,  persons  present."  ^  Some  of 
these  incidents,  no  doubt,  such  as  the  episode  of 
the  red-stamped  cheques  in  Mr.  Clarke's  case,  readily 
suggest  the  telepathic  transference  of  ideas  latent 
in  the  sitter's  mind.  But  in  a  few  instances  it  is  not 
merely  improbable  that  the  facts  mentioned  by 
Phinuit  should  at  any  time  have  been  within  the 
knowledge  of  any  persons  present  at  the  sitting, 
but,  as  in  the  account  just  quoted,  the  mode  of 
presentation  of  the  facts  and  the  attendant  circum- 
stances certainly  lend  some  additional  weight  to  an 
alternative  hypothesis,  that  of  spirit  communica- 
tion. No  doubt  in  view  of  Phinuit's  past  history 
it  is  right  that  the  evidence  derived  from  dramatic 
personation  should  be  subject  to  a  considerable 
discount.  And,  indeed,  partly  on  this  account,  and 
partly  because  the  cases  published  up  to  the  end  of 
1892  which  seemed  to  call  for  some  other  explana- 
tion than  telepathy  were  few  in  number,  the  problem 
did  not  for  a  considerable  time  present  itself  in  an 
urgent  form.     Of  late  years,  however,  a  consider- 

*  Proceedings,  S.P.R.,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  649-50. 


320  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

able  addition  has  been  made  to  the  evidence.  In 
February,  1892,  there  died  in  New  York  quite  sud- 
denly, at  the  age  of  thirty-three,  one  George  Pelham,* 
an  author  of  some  promise.  He  had  been  known 
personally  to  Dr.  Hodgson,  and  had  two  years  be- 
fore his  death  promised  that  if  "  still  existing  "  after 
death  he  would  do  his  utmost  to  prove  the  fact  to 
Dr.  Hodgson,  should  the  latter  survive  him. 

Pelham  was  an  associate  of  the  American  Branch 
of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  and  in  1888 
had  had  one  sitting  with  Mrs.  Piper,  one  of  a 
series  of  sittings  arranged  by  a  committee.  But  the 
names  of  the  sitters  were  carefully  guarded  by  the 
committee  :  Pelham  never  attended  another  sitting, 
and  never  saw  Mrs.  Piper  again.  Moreover,  de- 
spite the  promise  above  referred  to  he  had  little 
interest  in  the  question  of  a  future  life,  thinking  it, 
as  Hodgson  tells  us,  an  almost  inconceivable  possi- 
bility. No  allusion  to  Pelham  was  made  at  the 
sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper,  until  the  22nd  of  March, 
1892,  four  or  five  weeks  after  his  death.  On  that 
day,  an  intimate  friend  of  his,  John  Hart,'^  had 
arranged  through  Hodgson  for  a  sitting.  Hart's 
real  name  was  not,  of  course,  mentioned  to  Mrs. 
Piper. 

No.  71.     From  Mr.  John  Hart 

[At  the  commencement  of  the  sitting  there  were  some  refer- 
ences,  mostly   correct,   to   deceased    relatives  of   the   sitter. 

'  This  name  is  substituted  for  the  real  name. 

'  This  name  and  most  of  the  other  names  mentioned  in  connection  with 
the  "  G.  P."  case,  are  assumed,  Most  of  the  witnesses  were,  however,  known 
intimately  by  Dr.  Hodgson  and  Mr.  Myers. 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  321 

Hart's  own  surname  was  also  given  in  full.  Then,  shortly  after 
a  reference  to  a  deceased  Uncle  George,  whose  watch  had 
been  brought  to  the  sitting,  Phinuit  continued,  according  to 
Hodgson's  report :] 

"  There  is  another  George  who  wants  to  speak  to  you.  How 
many  Georges  are  there  about  you  any  way  ?  " 

The  rest  of  the  sitting,  until  almost  the  close,  was  occupied 
by  statements  from  G.  P.,  Phinuit  acting  as  intermediary, 
George  Pelham's  real  name  was  given  in  full,  also  the  names, 
both  Christian  and  surname,  of  several  of  his  most  intimate 
friends,  including  the  name  of  the  sitter. 

Moreover,  incidents  were  referred  to  which  were  unknown 
to  the  sitter  or  myself.* 

One  of  the  pair  of  studs  which  J.  H.  was  wearing  was  given 
to  Phinuit,  ..."  (Who  gave  them  to  me  ?)  That 's 
mine,  I  gave  you  that  part  of  it.  I  sent  that  to  you.  (When  ?) 
Before  I  came  here.  That  's  mine.  Mother  gave  you  that, 
(No.)  Well,  father  then,  father  and  mother  together.  You  got 
those  after  I  passed  out.  Mother  took  them.  Gave  them  to 
father,  and  father  gave  them  to  you,  I  want  you  to  keep 
them.  I  will  them  to  you."  Mr.  Hart  notes  :  "  The  studs 
were  sent  to  me  by  Mr.  Pelham  as  a  remembrance  of  his  son, 
I  knew  at  the  time  that  they  had  been  taken  from  G.'s  body, 
and  afterwards  ascertained  that  his  stepmother  had  taken 
them  from  the  body  and  suggested  that  they  would  do  to  send 
to  me,  I  having  previously  written  to  ask  that  some  little 
memento  be  sent  to  me." 

James  and  Mary  [Mr.  and  Mrs.]  Howard  were  mentioned 
with  strongly  personal  specific  references,  and  in  connection 
with  Mrs,  Howard  came  the  name  Katharine.  "  Tell  her, 
she'll  know.  I  will  solve  the  problems,  Katharine."  Mr. 
Hart  notes :  "  This  had  no  special  significance  for  me  at  the 
time,  though  I  was  aware  that  Katharine,  the  daughter  of  Jim 

'  /.  e,  Hodgson,  who  reports  the  incidents  of  the  sitting.  In  the 
account  which  follows  the  statements  made  by  the  "  control  "  are  put  in 
inverted  commas  ("  ");  and  Hart's  interjected  remarks  in  parentheses  ( ). 
Hodgson's  comments  are  in  brackets  [  ]. 


32^  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

Howard,  was  known  to  George,  who  used  to  live  with  the 
Howards.  On  the  day  following  the  sitting,  I  gave  Mr. 
Howard  a  detailed  account  of  the  sitting.  These  words,  "  I 
will  solve  the  problems,  Katharine,"  impressed  him  more  than 
anything  else,  and  at  the  close  of  my  account  he  related  that 
George,  when  he  had  last  stayed  with  them,  had  talked  fre- 
quently with  Katharine  (a  girl  of  fifteen  years  of  age)  upon 
such  subjects  as  Time,  Space,  God,  Eternity,  and  pointed  out 
to  her  how  unsatisfactory  the  commonly  accepted  solutions 
were.  He  added  that  some  time  he  would  solve  the  problems, 
and  let  her  know,  using  almost  the  very  words  of  the  com- 
munication made  at  the  sitting."  Mr.  Hart  added  that  he  was 
entirely  unaware  of  the  circumstances.  I  was  myself  unaware 
of  them,  and  was  not  at  that  time  acquainted  with  the  How- 
ards, and  in  fact  nearly  every  statement  made  at  the  sitting, 
during  which  I  was  the  note-taker,  concerned  matters  of  which 
I  was  absolutely  ignorant. 

Meredith,  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Hart  and  G.  P.,  was 
mentioned.  "  Lent  a  book  to  Meredith.  Tell  him  to  keep  it 
for  me.  Go  to  my  room  where  my  desk  is."  In  reply  to  en- 
quiries (April,  1892)  Meredith  stated  that  the  last  time  he  saw 
Pelham  was  in  Pelham's  own  room  several  months  before  the 
latter's  death.  They  had  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  day 
together,  and  Pelham  had  pressed  Meredith  to  take  away  some 
of  his  manuscripts  and  books.  Thus  far  the  reference  to 
Meredith  seems  to  have  been  correct.  But  Meredith  was  un- 
able to  remember  definitely  that  he  took  any  manuscript  or 
book  away.     ,     .     . 

[The  communication  then  continues :]  "  John,  if  that  is  you, 
speak  to  me.  Tell  Jim  I  want  to  see  him.  He  will  hardly  be- 
lieve me,  believe  that  I  am  here.  I  want  him  to  know  where 
I  am.  .  .  .  O  good  fellow.  All  got  dark,  then  it  grew  light. 
Where  is  Uncle  Will  ?  I  met  Uncle  Willie,  William.  (I  don't 
know  what  you  mean.)  Ask  mother.  She '11  know."  [G.  P.  had 
no  Uncle  William  deceased.  He  had  a  deceased  great-uncle 
William,  on  his  mother's  side,  who  was  thus  the  uncle  of  his 
mother  deceased  and  his  stepmother  living,  who  are  sisters.] 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  323 

"  Go  up  to  my  room.  (Which  room  ?)  Up  to  my  room, 
where  I  write.  I  '11  come.  Speak  to  me,  John.  (What 
room  ?)  Study.  (You  said  something  about  a  desk  just  now.) 
I  left  things  all  mixed  up.  I  wish  you  'd  go  up  and  straighten 
them  out  for  me.  Lot  of  names.  Lot  of  letters.  I  left  things 
mixed  up.  You  answer  them  for  me.  Wish  I  could  remember 
more,  but  I  'm  confused.  CLUB.  Went  to  the  Club.  Two 
things  at  the  Club  to  make  right.  (What  Club  ?)  His  band- 
er— (handkerchief.)  Handkerchief.  (What  does  he  want 
with  his  handkerchief  ?)  I  left  it  at  the  Club.  (What  Club  ?) 
OUR.  .  .  did  you  find  it  ?  (Yes,  no,  you  have  n't  told  me  at 
what  Club.)  I  saw  you  there.  It  is  n't  like  you,  John.  [The 
last  time  I  saw  G.  was  at  the  Players'  Club  in  New  York. — 
J-H.] 

"Who's  Rogets  ?  [Phinuit  tries  to  spell  the  real  name.] 
(Spell  that  again.)  [At  the  first  attempt  afterwards  Phinuit 
leaves  out  a  letter,  then  spells  it  correctly.]  Rogers.  (What  do 
you  want  Rogers  to  get?)  I  want  you  to  tell  Rogers  to  get  my 
handkerchief.  I  left  it.  He  found  it.  Rogers  has  got  a  book 
of  mine.    (What  is  he  going  to  do  with  it  ?)  " 

[Both  Hart  and  G.  P.  knew  Rogers,  who  at  that  time  had  a 
certain  MS.  book  of  G.  P.  in  his  possession.  The  book  was 
found  after  G.  P.'s  death  and  given  to  Rogers  to  be  edited. 
G.  P.  had  promised  during  his  lifetime  that  a  particular  dispo- 
sition should  be  made  of  this  book  after  his  death.  This  action 
which  G.  P.  living  had  contemplated  with  regard  to  the  book 
was  here,  and  in  subsequent  utterances  which  from  their  pri- 
vate nature  I  cannot  quote,  enjoined  emphatically  and  repeat- 
edly, and  had  it  been  at  once  carried  out,  as  desired  by  G.  P., 
much  subsequent  unhappinessand  confusion  might  have  been 
avoided.  Neither  Hart  nor  Rogers  knows  anything  of  the 
handkerchief  incident.] 

Then  followed  references  to  one  or  two  other 
friends  and  many  personal  statements  of  a  nature 
too  private  to  be  quoted.  Hardly  a  single  state- 
ment was  made  at  this  sitting:  which  was  not  ac- 


324  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

curate  and  relevant  to  the  supposed  personaHty  of 
G.  P.  Hart,  Hodgson  tells  us,  was  strongly  im- 
pressed by  the  vraisemblancc  of  the  impersonation.^ 
On  the  nth  April,  1892,  the  sitters  were  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Howard,  two  of  G.  P.'s  most  intimate 
friends.  The  statements  made  were  of  an  inti- 
mately personal  nature,  and  the  whole  proceed- 
ings were  regarded  by  the  Howards  as  thoroughly 
characteristic  of  their  deceased  friend.  All  the  state- 
ments made,  and  all  the  references  to  individuals, 
were  correct  and  relevant.  The  following  are 
extracts  from  Mr,  Howard's  notes  taken  during 
the  sitting.  The  sitter's  remarks  are  interpolated 
in  parentheses. 

G.  P.  :  Jim,  is  that  you  ?  Speak  to  me  quick.  I  am  not 
dead.  Don't  think  me  dead,  I  'm  awfully  glad  to  see  you. 
Can  't  you  see  me  ?  Don't  you  hear  me  ?  Give  my  love  to 
my  father  and  tell  him  I  want  to  see  him.  I  am  happy  here, 
and  more  so  since  I  find  I  can  communicate  with  you.  I  pity 
those  people  who  can't  speak.  ...  I  want  you  to  know  I 
think  of  you  still.  I  spoke  to  John  about  some  letters.  I  left 
things  terribly  mixed,  my  books  and  my  papers  ;  you  will  for- 
give me  for  this,  won't  you  ?     .     ,     . 

What  is  Rogers  writing  ? 

(A  novel.) 

No,  not  that.     Is  he  not  writing  something  about  me  ? 

(Yes,  he  is  preparing  a  memorial  of  you.) 

That  is  nice  ;  it  is  pleasant  to  be  remembered.  It  is  very 
kind  of  him.  He  was  always  kind  to  me  when  I  was  alive, 
Martha  Rogers  [deceased  daughter]  is  here,  I  have  talked 
with  her  several  times.  She  reflects  too  much  on  her  last  ill- 
ness, on  being  fed  with  a  tube.     We  tell  her  she  ought  to 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xiii.,  p.  297. 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  325 

forget  it,  and  she  has  done  so  in  good  measure,  but  she  was  ill 
a  long  time.  She  is  a  dear  little  creature  when  you  know 
her,  but  she  is  hard  to  know.  She  is  a  beautiful  little  soul. 
She  sends  her  love  to  her  father.     .     .     . 

Berwick,  how  is  he  ?  Give  him  my  love.  He  is  a  good 
fellow  ;  he  is  what  I  always  thought  him  in  life,  trustworthy 
and  honourable.  How  is  Orenberg  ?  He  has  some  of  my 
letters.  Give  him  my  warmest  love.  He  was  always  very 
fond  of  me,  though  he  understood  me  least  of  all  my  friends. 
We  fellows  who  are  eccentric  are  always  misunderstood  in 
life.  I  used  to  have  fits  of  depression.  I  have  none  now. 
I  am  happy  now.  I  want  my  father  to  know  about  this.  We 
used  to  talk  about  spiritual  things,  but  he  will  be  hard  to  con- 
vince.    My  mother  will  be  easier.     .     ,     .  ' 

In  brief,  between  twenty  and  thirty  persons  who 
were  friends  of  G.  P.  in  life  had  sittings  with  Mrs. 
Piper,  at  which  communications  were  given,  pur- 
porting to  come  from  the  deceased.  Most  of  these 
communications  were  accurate,  relevant,  and  char- 
acteristic ;  many  of  them  were  of  a  kind  too  in- 
timately personal  for  publication.  On  more  than 
one  occasion  incidents  which  had  taken  place  at  a 
distance,  unknown  to  any  one  in  the  room,  were 
described  with  approximate  correctness.  Refer- 
ences were  constantly  made  to  G.  P.'s  affairs,  his 
manuscripts,  and  personal  effects,  which  betrayed 
an  intimate  acquaintance  with  his  own  concerns 
and  those  of  his  friends.  Many  long  conversa- 
tions, partly  by  writing,  and  partly  by  voice,  were 
held  with  Dr.  Hodgson  and  other  persons  known 
to  G.  P.  ;  and  throughout  the  trance-intelligence 
showed  an    individual  personality — a  personality, 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xiii.,  pp.  300,  301. 


326  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

moreover,  which  was  regarded  by  his  friends  as 
resembHng  that  of  the  deceased  G.  P.  Many  of 
these  friends  were  convinced  that  they  had  been 
conversino^  with  Georcre  Pelham  himself.  One  of 
the  most  striking  proofs  of  identity  is  this.  As 
said,  between  twenty  and  thirty  friends  of  G.  P. 
visited  Mrs.  Piper,  all  under  assumed  names.  In 
no  case  did  G.  P.  fail  to  recognise  them,  and  to 
recognise  them  with  the  appropriate  emotional 
or  intellectual  relations.  In  no  case  did  he 
make  a  mistake,  and  claim  acquaintance  with  a 
stranger. 

During  the  years  1892-97  other  communicators 
took  control  and  furnished  proofs  of  identity,  some 
of  them  of  an  impressive  kind.  Of  late  years,  how- 
ever, the  communications  appear  to  have  fallen  off 
considerably  in  clearness  and  relevance.  In  1898- 
1899  a  series  of  sittings  were  held  at  which  Mr. 
Hyslop,  father  of  Professor  J.  H.  Hyslop,  was  the 
professed  communicator.  A  full  record  of  these, 
together  with  an  exhaustive  commentary,  is  pub- 
lished as  Vol.  XVI.  of  the  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R. 
Taken  as  a  whole  they  appear  to  contain,  together 
with  much  that  is  irrelevant  or  inaccurate,  so  few 
correct  and  pertinent  statements  on  matters  not 
conceivably  within  the  knowledge  of  the  medium, 
that,  in  my  own  judgment,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  extract  from  them  evidence  of  value  even  for 
telepathy  from  living  minds.  The  late  Dr.  Hodg- 
son, however,  attached  some  value  to  them,  and 
Professor  Hyslop  himself  is  satisfied  that  he  has 


The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper  327 

actually  been  in  communication  with  his  father.* 
The  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper  since  1900  have 
been — with  few  exceptions — equally  unproductive. 
The  control  of  the  entranced  organism  has  been 
taken  over  by  a  band  of  spirits,  Imperator,  Rec- 
tor, Prudens,  etc.,  who  proclaim  themselves  to 
be  the  same  who  directed  the  mediumship  of  the 
late  Stainton  Moses.  Stainton  Moses,  a  clergy- 
man of  the  Church  of  England,  and  English  Master 
at  University  College  School,  was  perhaps  the 
most  remarkable  private  medium  of  the  last  gen- 
eration. Of  his  trance  utterances  I  have  already 
spoken.  They  contain  no  evidence  of  supernormal 
faculty.  He  was  also  a  physical  medium,  but  he 
performed  only  in  a  small  circle  of  intimate  friends, 
and  the  evidence  for  the  supernormal  powers 
claimed  by  him  rests  entirely  on  the  conviction  en- 
tertained by  these  friends  of  the  medium's  hon- 
esty. No  precautions  against  trickery  were  taken, 
and  if  trickery  were  practised,  it  is  not  likely  that 
it  would  have  been  detected.^  It  cannot  be  said, 
therefore,  that  the  migration  of  Imperator  and 
his  associates  from  Stainton  Moses  to  Mrs.  Piper  is 
calculated  to  strengthen  the  presumption  of  spirit- 
communication. 

But  the  whole  subject  is  surrounded  with  diffi- 

'  The  reader  who  has  leisure  and  patience  may  possibly  care  to  peruse 
the  voluminous  record  and  form  his  own  opinion  as  to  its  merits.  But  he  is 
advised  first  to  read  Dr.  Hodgson's  Report  in  Proceedings,  vol.  xiii,,  which 
gives  the  case  of  Mrs.  Piper  at  its  best. 

'  I  have  discussed  at  length  the  case  of  Mr.  Stainton  Moses  in  my  Modern 
Spiritualism,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  276-88. 


328  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

culties  and  perplexities.  Even  G.  P.  has  on  more 
than  one  occasion  evaded  test  questions  put  to 
him,  and  has  evaded  them  under  circumstances 
which  suggest  disingenuousness.  Imperator,  Rec- 
tor, Prudens,  etc.,  represent  personages  of  some  im- 
portance in  their  day  upon  earth.  Their  real 
names  were  revealed  by  Stainton  Moses  to  one 
or  two  persons  still  living.  Through  Mrs.  Piper's 
organism  they  have  more  than  once  professed  as  a 
proof  of  identity  to  give  their  names ;  but  their 
guesses  have  been  incorrect.  Several  persons  have 
within  the  last  few  years  left  behind  them  sealed 
letters,  containing  some  statement  known  only  to 
themselves,  in  order  that  revelation  of  the  contents 
through  a  medium  might  furnish  proof  of  the 
writer's  survival.  In  no  case  has  the  test  been 
complied  with.  In  at  least  two  instances  (the 
medium  in  one  case  being  Mrs.  Piper,  and  in  the 
other  Mrs.  Verrall)  statements  have  been  made 
purporting  to  indicate  the  contents  of  such  a  letter, 
which  have  proved,  when  the  letter  was  opened,  to 
be  entirely  wide  of  the  mark.*  During  the  past 
year  some  sittings  have  been  held  with  Mrs.  Piper 
in  England  at  which  some  communications  of  in- 
terest have  been  received.  But  the  full  report  of 
the  results  is  not  yet  ripe  for  publication. 

The  investigation  into  these  trance  phenomena 
will,  we  hope,  be  continued  whenever  opportunity 

■  A  full  account  of  a  case  in  which  a  test  of  this  kind  is  said  to  have  been 
fulfilled  wiP,  be  found  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  viii.,  p.  243.  But  the  ac- 
count was  not  written  until  many  years  after  the  event. 


The  Case  of  Airs.  Piper  329 

offers  itself.  From  the  results  so  far  attained  no 
certain  conclusion  seems  possible.  On  the  one 
hand,  it  seems  clear  that  the  trance  consciousness 
of  Mrs.  Piper,  as  of  all  other  so-called  mediums,  is 
apt  on  very  small  provocation  to  personify  itself, 
and  that  the  personification  may  be  shaped  by  the 
suggestions  of  those  present.  In  Mrs.  Piper's  case 
we  have  ground  for  assuming  that  such  suggestions 
may  often  be  conveyed  telepathically ;  in  short,  that 
the  dramatic  personalities  of  the  so-called  controls 
may  actually  be  built  up  out  of  the  material  un- 
consciously supplied  by  the  sitters,  and  that  the 
intimate  personal  details  revealed  in  the  trance  ut- 
terances may  be  telepathically  filched  from  the 
same  source.  The  limitations  of  the  knowledge 
displayed,  and  the  occasional  disingenuousness, 
forbid  us  to  accept  these  communications  as  au- 
thentic and  unembarrassed  messages  from  the  dead. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  remarkable  freedom  of 
the  communications  at  some  of  the  G.  P.  seances, 
and  the  occasional  references  to  matters  apparently 
outside  the  knowledore  of  the  sitter,  sucrcrest  that  in 
certain  cases,  at  any  rate,  we  may  come  somehow 
into  contact  with  the  minds  of  the  dead.  Mrs. 
Sidgwick  has  suggested  ^  that  possibly  there  may 
be  communication  with  the  dead,  through  the  chan- 
nel of  the  sitter's  mind;  that  Mrs.  Piper  may  re- 
ceive telepathically  such  messages,  as  she  apparently 
receives  the  impression  of  other  contents  of  her 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xv.,  p.  37. 


330  The  Case  of  Mrs.  Piper 

visitors'  minds,  and  reflect  them  back  through  her 
automatic  speech  or  writing. 

Some  such  hypothesis  would  seem  to  be  adequate 
to  cover  the  known  facts.  But  at  the  present  stage 
of  the  investigation  it  must  remain  an  open  ques- 
tion whether  an  hypothesis  which  involves  in  any 
form  telepathy  from  the  dead  is  really  required. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

ON    CLAIRVOYANCE    AND    PREVISION 

TELEPATHY,  as  we  have  seen,  furnishes  a  key 
which  will  unlock  many  things  hitherto  occult. 
But  not  all  doors  can  thus  be  opened.  There  are 
incidents  reported  by  competent  witnesses  which 
would  seem  to  point  to  other  unrecognised  facul- 
ties of  acquiring  knowledge  beyond  the  scope  of 
the  normal  senses.  Provisionally  the  chief  of  these 
hypothetical  faculties  have  been  named  Clairvoy- 
ance, and  Prevision  or  Precognition.  The  proof 
of  such  faculties,  however,  is  on  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent footing  from  the  proof  of  telepathy.  We 
have  seen  that  the  hypothesis  of  the  transmission 
of  ideas  from  one  brain  to  another  by  means  of 
ethereal  vibrations  presents,  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
no  insuperable  difficulty.  Moreover,  if  such  a 
faculty  should  be  proved  to  exist,  we  could  under- 
stand how  it  might  have  been  called  into  being  by 
the  pressure  of  the  environment  to  meet  the  needs 
of  an  earlier  stage  in  human,  perhaps  even  in  ani- 
mal history.  We  should  see  in  it  the  last  traces 
of  a  faculty  which  rose  before  the  birth  of  speech, 
and  is  already  passing  below  the  human  horizon,  at 

33^ 


33^       On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

all  events,  now  that  its  work  is  done.  In  other 
words,  if  the  theory  of  telepathy  were  accepted,  it 
would  not  necessarily  carry  us  beyond  the  bound- 
aries of  the  known.  In  its  physical  aspect,  it 
would  be  but  one  more  effect  of  ethereal  vibra- 
tions ;  historically,  we  should  rank  it  as  a  vestigial 
faculty,  reminding  us,  like  the  prehensile  powers  of 
the  newly  born  infant,  of  a  time  when  man  was  in 
the  making. 

But  clairvoyance  and  prevision,  the  postulated 
faculties  of  seeing  without  the  intermediation  of 
any  definite  sense  organ,  and  of  foreseeing  events 
yet  to  come,  could  not  apparently  be  explained  by 
any  conceivable  extension  of  physical  laws.  Nor 
could  the  existence  of  such  faculties  be  accounted 
for  by  any  process  of  terrestrial  evolution.  It  is 
on  the  supposed  existence  of  these  superterrestrial 
modes  of  acquiring  knowledge,  that  the  late  F. 
W.  H.  Myers  has  founded  a  cogent  argument  for 
immortality.  As  we  have  seen  in  the  last  two 
chapters,  recent  psychology  tends  to  show  that 
consciousness  in  the  last  analysis  is  but  the  trans- 
itory co-ordination  of  countless  ill-defined  and 
variable  factors ;  and  the  study  of  hypnotism  and 
hysteria  has  only  served  to  deepen  our  sense  of  the 
inadequacy  of  this  surface  consciousness,  and  to  re- 
veal the  possibility  of  other  combinations  amongst 
its  shifting  elements. 

Myers  accepted  to  the  full  the  results  of  recent 
research.  He  recognised  that  the  human  conscious- 
ness, as   we   know  it,  is  a  highly   composite   and 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision       3^,^ 

unstable  thing,  having  neither  completeness  nor 
essential  unity.  It  is  in  short,  to  employ  his  fa- 
vourite simile,  like  the  visible  spectrum,  a  selection 
— accidental,  interrupted,  and  variable — from  a  lar- 
ger whole.  But  at  this  point  Myers's  view  diverges 
from  those  of  the  recognised  schools.  To  him  the 
surface  consciousness,  the  only  thing  which  we 
know  as  consciousness  in  ordinary  life,  is  compara- 
tively unimportant.  "  I  accord  no  primacy,"  he 
writes,  "to  my  ordinary  waking  self,  except  that 
among  my  potential  selves  this  one  has  shown  itself 
the  fittest  to  meet  the  needs  of  common  life."  It 
is  the  hidden  life  which  counts — the  self  which  the 
struggle  of  the  market-place  and  the  senate  has 
thrust  back  into  the  darkness,  or  has  not  yet  called 
into  conscious  activity.  "  Each  of  us,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  is  in  reality  an  abiding  psychical  entity 
far  more  extensive  than  he  knows — an  individuality 
which  can  never  express  itself  completely  through 
any  corporeal  manifestation.  .  .  .  All  this 
[unexpressed]  psychical  action  is  conscious,  all  is 
included  in  an  actual  or  potential  memory  below 
the  threshold  of  our  habitual  consciousness."^ 

Again,  the  student  of  the  laboratory  or  the 
asylum  teaches  that  the  rays  omitted  from  the 
psychical  spectrum  are  merely  the  ultra-red  rays, 
the  representatives  of  organic  activities,  of  ob- 
scure bodily  sensations,  and  possibly  of  primitive 
modes  of  perception  which  in  the  long  ascent 
from    the  ascidian  have    been   crowded  out  from 

•  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  vii.,  pp.  301,  305. 


334        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

the  waking  consciousness,  at  any  rate,  of  civil- 
ised man.  But  Myers  claimed  that  the  analysis 
of  the  orthodox  school  is  defective  and  that  a  more 
resolute  search  would  find  traces,  beyond  the  violet 
end  of  our  soul's  spectrum,  of  other  faculties  and 
modes  of  perception,  **  which  this  material  or  planet- 
ary life  could  not  have  called  into  being,  and  whose 
exercise  even  here  and  now  involves  and  necessi- 
tates the  existence  of  a  spiritual  world." 

Amongst  these  dormant  faculties,  which  we  yet 
cannot  reckon  as  vestigial,  are  the  exceptional 
powers  exhibited  by  some  hypnotic  subjects  of 
subconsciously  reckoning  with  precision  long  peri- 
ods of  time,  and  the  remarkable  feats  of  calculating 
boys.  For  at  what  point  of  man's  upward  progress, 
Myers  would  ask,  could  it  have  profited  him  to 
possess  a  psychic  alarum  of  this  kind?  or  how 
could  it  have  nerved  the  arm  of  the  cave-dweller  to 
be  able  to  extract  cube-roots,  or  reckon  out  log- 
arithms at  sight?  Telepathy  also,  to  Myers  and 
those  who  think  with  him,  seems  to  point  to  a 
wider  plane  of  existence,  and  a  spiritual  as  opposed 
to  a  merely  terrestial  process  of  evolution.  But  it 
is  in  its  equipment  with  the  transcendental  faculties 
referred  to  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  that 
the  strongest  proof  of  the  extra-planetary  affinities 
of  the  human  soul  will  naturally  be  sought.  It  is 
important  therefore  to  examine  carefully  the  basis 
upon  which  the  assumption  of  the  existence  of 
these  faculties  depends. 

The  earlier  students  of  Mesmerism  or  "  Animal 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        335 

Magnetism"  in  this  and  other  European  countries 
beHeved  that  certain  of  their  subjects  possessed  the 
power  of  vision  without  the  use  of  the  eyes.  Some- 
times the  power  of  vision  was  beHeved  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  some  other  part  of  the  body — the  pit  of 
the  stomach,  the  fingers,  or  the  back  of  the  head. 
Sometimes  it  had  no  apparent  relation  to  the  bodily 
organism,  but  was  thought  to  be  exercised  by  the 
soul  itself,  released  for  a  time  from  the  prisoning 
flesh.  It  was  the  supposed  clairvoyance  at  close 
quarters,  however,  which  first  attracted  attention. 
The  Commission  appointed  by  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Medicine  at  Paris,  which  presented  their  report 
on  the  phenomena  of  Animal  Magnetism  in  1831, 
stated  that  they  had  found  certain  subjects  who 
in  the  magnetic  trance  could  distinguish  objects 
placed  before  them  when  their  eyes  were  fast 
closed  and  normal  vision  was  impossible.  During 
the  next  thirty  years  many  exponents  of  this  sup- 
posed faculty  gave  public  exhibitions,  especially  in 
this  country  and  in  France.  Some  careful  experi- 
ments with  a  view  to  test  the  reality  of  the  alleged 
faculty  were  made  by  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Townshend 
in  1840-50.  Townshend  convinced  himself  that 
certain  mesmerised  persons  could  see  objects  placed 
outside  the  range  of  vision.  Indeed,  as  described, 
it  seems  impossible  to  account  for  some  of  his  re- 
sults by  the  exercise  of  the  normal  senses.  In 
most  of  the  experiments  it  was  found  necessary  for 
the  object  to  be  held  in  front  of  the  eyes,  which 
were,  however,  so  bandaged  as  to  make  it  impossi- 


33^        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

ble,  in  the  view  of  the  experimenters,  for  the  sub- 
ject to  see  anything.  It  was  found,  however,  that 
a  variation  in  the  angle  at  which  the  object  was 
held,  the  addition  of  a  further  covering  to  the  head, 
or  the  interposition  of  a  screen,  interfered  with 
success.  It  is  quite  clear  therefore  that  in  these 
cases — as  indeed  in  nearly  all  those  hitherto  re- 
ported by  careful  observers — the  supposed  power 
of  "clairvoyance"  had  some  relation  to  the  normal 
organs  of  vision.  Moreover  the  experience  of  the 
investigators  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research 
has  led  them  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  no 
method  of  bandaging  the  eyes,  without  risk  of  in- 
jury to  those  organs,  which  will  effectually  preclude 
normal  vision.  We  gained  our  most  instructive 
lesson  with  a  subject  named  Dick,  a  pit  lad.  .Dick, 
who  had  given  successful  exhibitions  of  his  powers 
on  platforms  in  the  North  of  England,  was  brought 
to  us  in  1884  for  examination.  The  method  of 
bandaging  practised  by  his  manager  was  as  follows  : 
a  penny  was  placed  over  each  eye,  ostensibly  to 
protect  the  organ  from  sticking-plaster,  strips  of 
which  were  applied  copiously  over  the  orbits  and 
the  surrounding  features.  A  handkerchief  was 
then  tied  tightly  over  all.  Under  these  conditions 
Dick  correctly  described  objects  held  in  front  of 
him  at  a  considerable  distance.  The  bandaging 
seemed  to  be  effective  and  normal  vision  appeared 
impossible.  It  was  observed,  however,  that  Dick 
was  most  successful  when  the  objects  were  held 
directly  in  front,  and  a  little  above  the  level  of  the 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        ZZ7 

eyes.  A  variation  in  the  position  frequently  led  to 
the  failure  of  the  experiment.  Further  the  experi- 
ment would  fail  if  the  bandages  were  placed  above 
the  level  of  the  eyebrows.  Eventually,  after  re- 
peated trials,  Dr.  Hodgson  succeeded,  under  the 
same  conditions  of  bandaging,  in  seeing,  though 
fitfully  and  imperfectly,  objects  held  in  a  corre- 
sponding position.  The  channel  of  vision  was  a 
small  chink  in  the  sticking-plaster  on  the  line  where 
it  was  fastened  to  the  brow.  Possibly  with  Dick 
vision  under  these  conditions  may  have  been  ren- 
dered easier  by  some  degree  of  visual  hyperaes- 
thesia.  His  trance  seemed  to  be  genuine.^  In 
short,  until  we  can  find  a  subject  who  can  see  an 
object  through  an  opaque  screen  or  inside  a  closed 
box,  we  need  not  seriously  consider  this  kind  of 
clairvoyance. 

But  the  suo^crested  conditions  are  allecred  to  have 
been  complied  with  in  two  well-known  cases — those 
of  Alexis  Didier  and  of  Major  Buckley's  subjects. 
And  as  both  cases  have  been  cited  of  recent  years  by 
distinguished  writers'^  as  proofs  of  clairvoyance,  it 
seems  necessary  to  consider  their  claims.  Notwith- 
standing the  testimony  of  Robert  Houdin,  who 
witnessed  the  performance,  and  professed  himself 
quite  unable  to  discover  any  trickery,  it  seems 
unnecessary    to     consider    that    part    of    Alexis' 

•  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  i.,  p.  84. 

^  Dr.  A.  R.  Wallace  in  Proceedings  S.P.R.,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  373,  has  claimed 
genuine  powers  of  clairvoyance  for  Alexis  Didier.  Mr.  Myers  {Human 
Personality,  vol.  i.,  pp.  556-8),  has  quoted  some  of  Major  Buckley's  experi- 
ments. 


33^        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

"  clairvoyance  "  which  was  undertaken  widi  eyes 
bandaged.  Alexis,  as  we  know  from  contemporary 
accounts,  was  very  particular  as  to  the  arrangement 
of  the  bandages,  and  frequently  fidgeted  with  them. 
In  any  case,  bandaging  the  eyes,  as  already  said,  is 
a  fallacious  test.  But  Alexis  did  more  than  play 
cards  or  read  books  with  eyes  bandaged.  We  are 
told  that  he  frequently  described  the  contents  of 
sealed  packets,  which  had  been  specially  prepared 
beforehand  as  a  test  of  his  powers.  Accounts  of 
this  marvel  are  fairly  numerous,  and  the  witnesses, 
whose  names  are  given,  were  frequently  persons 
whose  position  removed  them  from  all  suspicion  of 
collusion.  If  we  regard  their  evidence  as  insuffi- 
cient to  prove  clairvoyance,  it  is  on  quite  other 
grounds.  Briefly,  Alexis  was  a  professional  med- 
ium, who  received  large  sums  for  his  services ;  he 
had  a  probable  confederate  in  his  business  man- 
ager, Marcillet ;  the  stances  were  not  conducted 
under  conditions  favourable  to  exact  observation — 
the  room  would  be  thronged  with  people,  twenty  or 
thirty  at  a  time  ;  Alexis  could  not  satisfy  all  the 
tests  propounded  to  him,  and  no  doubt  selected 
those  which  gave  him  his  opportunity.  Lastly, 
the  accounts  of  the  experiments  which  have  come 
down  to  us  are  hasty  and  incomplete ;  we  probably 
have  in  no  case  a  full  report  of  what  took  place. 
But  by  comparing  reports  by  different  observers  of 
the  same  experiment,  we  find  in  one  or  two  cases 
that  the  contents  of  the  sealed  packet  could  not  be 
described  when  first  presented.     The  secret  would 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        339 

only  be  revealed  after  the  packet  had  been  opened 
in  another  room  and  the  contents  shown  to  a 
sympathetic  bystander.  Apart  from  the  danger 
of  collusion,  it  is  obvious  that  this  procedure 
offered  opportunity  for  the  prying  eyes  of  M. 
Marcillet.  On  the  whole,  we  are  forced  to  the 
conclusion  that  Alexis'  performances  so  closely 
resembled  conjuring  tricks,  and  took  place  under 
conditions  so  little  favourable  for  exact  experi- 
ment, that  we  should  not  be  justified  in  citing 
them  as  evidence  for  clairvoyance.^ 

The  case  of  Major  Buckley's  clairvoyants  is  much 
simpler.  Major  Buckley  was  an  elderly  gentleman, 
a  retired  officer  of  the  Indian  Army,  who  prided 
himself  on  his  remarkable  powers  as  a  mesmerist. 
Amongst  his  pet  subjects  were  several  young  women 
who  developed  remarkable  powers  of  clairvoyance. 
Their  specialty — and  it  is  remarkable  that  this 
particular  power,  though  exhibited  by  many  of 
Major  Buckley's  subjects,  has  not,  as  far  as  I  know, 
been  claimed  in  any  other  case — consisted  in  reading 
the  mottoes  in  nuts  purchased  at  the  confectioner's, 
hazel  nuts  or  walnuts,  the  natural  contents  of  which 
had  been  replaced  by  sweetmeats  and  a  piece  of 
paper  bearing  a  motto.  From  reports  given  in  the 
Zoist,  by  Ashburner  and  others,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
see  how  the  feat  was  accomplished.  The  young 
women  had  apparently  brought  with  them  nuts 
which  they  had  previously  opened  and  resealed, 
and  they  contrived  during  the  proceedings  to  sub- 

'  See  ray  Modern  Spiritualism,  vol.  i.,  pp.  143-7. 


340        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

stitute  these  prepared  nuts  for  those  brought  by  the 
investigators.  When  the  nuts  were  marked,  so  as 
to  prevent  substitution,  the  young  ladies  pleaded 
headache  and  the  experiments  proved  inconclusive.* 
On  the  whole  we  are  bound  to  conclude  that  the 
evidence  for  the  alleged  power  of  clairvoyance  at 
close  quarters  is  quite  insufficient.  The  case,  how- 
ever, for  what  the  older  mesmerists  styled  "travel- 
ling clairvoyance"  is  very  much  stronger,  though 
the  hypothesis  implied  by  that  term,  viz.,  that  the 
soul  of  the  entranced  subject  left  the  body  and 
actually  visited  the  scene  which  he  described,  is 
of  course  gratuitous.  The  locality  "visited "was 
generally  the  home  of  one  of  the  experimenters, 
selected  as  being  at  a  distance  and  unknown  to  the 
clairvoyant.  So  far  as  the  details  given  by  the 
sleeper  were  known  to  the  experimenter,  telepathy 
from  his  mind  would  be  sufficient  to  account  for 
the  results.  In  the  rarer  cases,  when  details  would 
be  given  of  the  scene  taking  place  at  the  moment 


'  See  Zoist,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  98-110  and  380-4.  The  latest  case  of  clairvoy- 
ance at  close  quarters  has  broken  down  like  all  the  rest.  In  1896,  Dr. 
Ferroul,  Mayor  of  Narbonne, — who  has  lately  risen  to  fame  in  another  field 
of  action, — reported  in  the  Annales  des  Sciences  Psychiques  the  success  of 
some  experiments  in  reading  the  contents  of  closed  envelopes.  In  the 
following  year  Professor  Grasset  made  up  a  sealed  envelope  and  sent  it 
to  Dr.  Ferroul's  subject.  The  contents  were  correctly  read,  and  Professor 
Grasset  could  not  ascertain  that  the  envelope  had  been  tampered  with  in 
any  way.  Subsequently,  at  his  request,  the  Academie  des  Sciences  et  Lettres 
of  Montpellier  apppointed  a  committee  to  investigate  the  matter.  Their  re- 
port leaves  no  room  to  doubt  that  the  results  were  achieved  by  deliberate 
fraud.  (See  Amiales  des  Sciences  Psychiques,  May-June  and  July-August, 
1896  ;  November-December,  1897  ;  January-February,  1898.  Also  Semaine 
MMicale,  1898,  pp.  18-20,  diud.  Proceedings,  S.P.R.,  xiv.,  pp.  115-118.) 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        341 

of  the  experiment  and  unknown  to  any  of  those 
present  in  the  room  with  the  sleeper,  the  operation 
of  telepathy  from  a  distance  is  still  not  excluded. 
We  should  clearly  not  be  justified  in  attributing  a 
power  of  independent  vision  to  the  clairvoyant. 
The  following  example  will  serve  to  illustrate  the 
type. 

The  narrative,  written  by  Dr.  Alfredo  Barcellos, 
was  communicated  to  us  by  Professor  Alexander, 
of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  who  has  himself  investigated  the 
circumstance. 

No.  72 

[The  incident  occurred  on  the  19th  of  March,  1895,  ^"^  the 
account  was  sent  to  us  on  the  29th  December,  1896.  Dr. 
Barcellos  had  just  visited  a  patient,  Donna  X.,who  was  con- 
valescing from  pleurisy  on  the  left  side.  The  recovery  was 
retarded  by  severe  anaemia,  from  which,  however,  no  danger 
was  apprehended.  From  Donna  X.'s  house  Dr.  Barcellos 
went  direct  to  the  house  of  Donna  G.,  another  patient  whom 
he  was  treating  by  means  of  hypnotism.  On  this  occasion 
Donna  G.  after  passing  into  the  trance]  "suddenly  became 
grave — frowned  as  if  engaged  in  some  effort  of  thought  {^como 
pensativa  e  preoccupada),  and  with  that  vivid  presentation  that 
characterises  somnambules,  uttered,  in  substance,  the  following 
words,  which  made  a  profound  impression  on  my  memory  : 
*  Dr.  Barcellos,  that  patient  of  yours  is  dying.  Poor  thing  ! — 
See  the  children  weeping  round  her.  Look — there  goes  a 
messenger  in  all  haste  to  your  house  to  call  you.  This  is  what 
she  said:'  (Here  G.  tried  to  imitate  the  faint  tones  of  a 
person  in  articulo  mortis) — ' "  Help  me.  Dr.  Barcellos,  I  am 
dying  !  "  '  (Returning  to  her  natural  voice)  '  Poor  thing  ! — 
a  stout  woman,  too — and  to  say  that  stoutness  is  a  sign  of 
health.  It  is  useless,  doctor — she  is  dead  !  *  As  at  that  time 
the  person   I   had  just   visited   was  [G.   excepted]   my   only 


342        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

female  patient,  I  supposed,  on  hearing  these  words,  that  the 
reference  must  be  to  her,  and  I  therefore  said  to  G.,  '  Ex- 
amine the  dying  woman.  See  what  she  is  dying  of ' ;  to  which 
the  somnambule,  after  [another]  effort  of  thought,  replied, 
'  She  has  an  obstruction  in  her  chest  on  the  left  side  ;  but  it  is 
not  that  that  is  killing  her,  doctor.  What  is  killing  her  is  her 
state  of  profound  anaemia.  It  may  be  said  that  this  woman's 
blood  has  been  changed  to  water  in  her  veins.    She  is  dead  ! ' " 

In  fact  Donna  X.  had  died,  as  stated,  and  a 
messenger  had  been  dispatched  to  summon  a  doctor. 
Dr.  Barcellos  on  his  way  to  the  house  met  Dr. 
Dias,  who  had  just  come  from  thence,  and  Dr. 
Dias  testifies  that  Dr.  Barcellos  was  able  to  tell 
him  that  Donna  X.  was  already  dead.i 

We  find  a  few  instances  of  "  clairvoyance "  of 
this  kind  recorded  as  occurring  during  severe  ill- 
ness. Dr.  Sutphin,  of  Glasgow,  Kentucky,  has 
given  an  account  of  two  cases  occurring  in  his 
practice  in  which  typhoid  fever  patients  saw  events 
taking  place  at  a  distance.  The  vision  in  one  case 
represented  a  detailed  picture  of  a  distant  scene 
and  the  actors  in  it.^ 

It  is  perhaps  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  that 
the  finding  of  lost  objects  through  indications  given 
in  dreams,  in  the  crystal,  or  though  planchette 
cannot  be  attributed  to  clairvoyance.  In  most 
cases  the  revival  of  a  lost  memory  on  the  part  of 
the  actual  seer  will  explain  the  fact.  More  rarely, 
we  have  to  assume  that  the  seer  is  enabled  to  reach 
telepathically  the  subliminal  memory  of  another. 

«  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  July,  1897. 
2  Ibid,  June,  1896. 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        343 

This  seems  the  simplest  explanation  of  a  remark- 
able incident  reported  to  the  Society  by  Sir  Harry 
and  Lady  Vane.  Lady  Vane  had  lost  a  notebook, 
and  had  had  the  whole  house  searched  for  it. 
Some  weeks  later  meeting  Lady  Mabel  Howard, 
who  has  received  many  veridical  messages  through 
automatic  writing,  Lady  Vane  asked  her  to  find 
out  where  the  book  was.  Lady  Mabel's  pencil 
wrote  that  the  book  would  be  found  in  a  locked 
cupboard  in  the  bookcase,  at  the  tapestry  end  of 
the  room,  and  after  a  further  close  search  the  book 
was  actually  found  in  the  place  indicated  concealed 
in  a  scrapbook.  This  particular  cupboard  had  al- 
ready been  searched  on  more  than  one  occasion.* 

There  are,  however,  a  few  cases  reported  of 
dreams  picturing  the  scene  of  a  burglary,  or  other 
event,  in  which  it  is  difficult,  with  any  plausibility, 
to  invoke  human  agency.  The  following  case  will 
serve  to  illustrate  the  point. 

No.  73.  From  Miss  Busk'' 

"  16  Montague  Place,  W.,  1884. 

"I  dreamt  that  I  was  walking  in  a  wood  in  my  father's 
place  in  Kent,  in  a  spot  well-known  to  me,  where  there  was 
sand  under  the  firs  ;  I  stumbled  over  some  objects,  which 
proved  to  be  heads,  left  protruding,  of  some  ducks  buried  in 
the  sand.  The  idea  impressed  me  as  so  comical  that  I  fortu- 
nately mentioned  it  at  breakfast  next  morning,  and  one  of 
two  persons  remember  that  I  did  so.  Only  an  hour  later  it 
happened  that  the  old  bailiff  of  the  place  came  up  for  some 
instructions  unexpectedly,  and  as  he  was  leaving  he  said  he 
must  tell  us  a  strange  thing  that  had  happened.     There  had 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xi.,  p.  395. 

'  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  vol.  i. ,  p.  369. 


344        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

been  a  robbery  in  the  farmyard,  and  some  stolen  ducks  had 
been  found  buried  in  the  sand,  with  their  heads  protruding, 
in  the  very  spot  where  I  had  seen  the  same.  The  farm  was 
underlet,  and  I  had  not  even  any  interest  in  the  ducks  to 
carry  my  thoughts  towards  them  under  the  nefarious  treat- 
ment they  received. 

"R.  H.  Busk." 
Miss   Busk's  sister,    Mrs.   Pitt    Byrne,  who  was 
present  when  this  dream  was  told,  corroborates  as 
follows : 

"  I  distinctly  remember,  and  have  often  since  spoken  of, 
the  circumstance  of  Miss  R.  H.  Busk's  relating  to  me  her 
dream  of  ducks  buried  in  the  wood,  before  the  bailiff  who 
reported  the  incident  came  up  to  town. 

"  J.  Pitt  Byrne." 

Impressions  of  this  type  are,  however,  very  rare, 
and  their  occurrence  is  reported,  so  far  as  I  am 
aware,  only  in  dreams.  It  would  not  be  safe, 
therefore,  to  build  any  hypothesis  on  such  slender 
support.  Moreover,  improbable  though  the  concep- 
tion may  appear  of  a  malefactor  revealing  telepath- 
ically  his  own  misdeed  to  any  of  those  concerned, 
the  remarkable  dream  connected  with  the  death  of 
W.  Terriss,  which  is  given  below,  would  certainly 
seem  to  indicate  such  a  possibility. 

The  evidence  for  precognition  is  at  first  sight, 
perhaps,  more  impressive  than  that  for  clairvoy- 
ance. But  a  little  consideration  will  show  us  that 
it  is  as  yet  wholly  inadequate  to  justify  the  tre- 
mendous assumptions  implied  in  the  hypothesis 
of  foreknowledge  of  the  future.  Telepathy,  as 
already  indicated,  does    not    seem    necessarily   to 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        345 

involve  more  than  a  slight  enlargement  of  the 
physical  scheme  of  the  universe — just  the  addition 
of  a  new  mode  of  force  operating  by  means  al- 
ready sufficiently  familiar.  But  foreknowledge 
of  the  future,  of  the  detailed  kind  indicated  in 
some  of  the  narratives  forwarded  to  us,  would  in- 
volve the  shattering  of  the  whole  scientific  fabric. 
If  the  things  reported  in  some  of  these  narratives 
really  happened  we  must  set  to  work  to  construct 
a  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth.  But  the  hypo- 
thesis of  telepathy,  as  already  shown,  rests  pri- 
marily upon  rigid  experiment  ;  the  spontaneous 
instances  furnish  subsidiary  support,  but  are  in 
themselves  hardly  sufficient  to  justify  the  theory. 
Now  the  hypothesis  of  prevision  derives  no  sup- 
port from  experiment  ;  it  rests  entirely  on  the 
testimony  of  witnesses  who  rarely  have  any  claim 
to  be  regarded  as  expert  observers.  And  the  im- 
pressions by  which  foreknowledge  of  the  future 
seems  to  be  conveyed  are  mostly  dreams — that  is, 
they  belong  to  a  class  of  impressions  which  we 
have  already  recognised  as  being  evidentially  so 
weak  as  to  give  but  dubious  support  to  telepathy. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  repeat  what  has  been 
said  in  a  previous  chapter  as  to  the  inherent  de- 
fects of  dream  evidence.  But  as  the  "  prophetic  " 
dream  often  does  not  meet  with  its  fulfilment  until 
weeks  or  months  later,  it  is  clear  that  there  is 
greater  risk  even  than  in  the  cases  already  con- 
sidered of  the  dream  being  reshaped  in  memory  to 
fit  the  event. 


34^        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

As  Gurney  has  put  it: 

"When  the  actual  facts  are  learnt  a  faint  amount  of  resem- 
blance may  often  suggest  a  past  dream,  and  set  the  mind  on 
the  track  of  trying  accurately  to  recall  it.  This  very  act  in- 
volves a  search  for  detail,  for  something  tangible  and  distinct; 
and  the  real  features  and  definite  incidents  which  are  now 
present  to  the  mind,  in  close  association  with  some  definite 
scene  or  fact  which  actually  figured  in  the  dream,  will  be  apt  to 
be  unconsciously  read  back  into  the  dream  .  .  .  dreams 
in  this  way  resemble  objects  seen  in  the  dusk  ;  which  begin 
by  puzzling  the  eye,  but  which  when  once  we  know  or  think 
we  know  what  they  are,  seem  quite  unmistakable  and  even 
full  of  familiar  detail."' 

Nor  have  we  in  most  of  these  "  prophetic  "  dreams 
the  kind  of  certificate  which  we  were  enabled  to 
produce  in  several  of  the  dreams  quoted  in  Chapter 
IV. — the  evidence  of  contemporary  documents.  In 
comparatively  few  cases  does  it  appear  that  any 
note  of  the  "  prophetic "  dream  was  made  before 
the  fulfilment. 

If  we  consider  only  those  "prophetic"  dreams 
which  are  attested  by  contemporary  documents,  or 
in  which  there  is  other  satisfactory  evidence  that 
the  experience  has  been  correctly  reported,  we 
shall  find  that  in  many  cases  the  facts  admit  of 
some  other  explanation  than  foreknowledge  of  the 
future.  Thus,  we  have  several  cases  in  which  the 
winner  of  the  Derby  or  some  other  race  was  re- 
vealed in  a  dream ;  or  in  which  the  position  of  a 
candidate  in  some  important  examination  was  ac- 
curately  foreseen.      Professor    G.    Hulin,    of    the 

'  Phantasms,  vol.  i.,  p.  298. 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        347 

University  of  Ghent,  has  communicated  to  us  five 
instances,  all  occurring  within  a  few  years,  appar- 
ently in  the  same  district  of  Belgium,  in  which 
young  men  had  dreamt  beforehand  of  the  actual 
number  which  they  would  draw  for  conscription, 
and  had  announced  the  number,  before  the  draw- 
ing, to  the  presiding  officer.  The  facts  in  each 
case  are  certified  by  the  co77imissaire  d  arrondisse- 
mejity  who  was  himself  the  presiding  officer  on 
at  least  two  of  the  occasions  referred  to.^  Cases  of 
this  kind  are  certainly  much  more  remarkable  than 
dreams  of  the  winning  horse,  because  the  numbers 
concerned  are  much  larger  (the  highest  number  in 
the  urn  in  one  case  is  given  as  223),  and  the  results 
are  of  course  quite  incalculable.  It  is  not  difficult 
to  suppose,  in  the  case  of  the  lottery  or  the  horse 
race,  that  the  fears  and  hopes  centred  on  the  issue 
breed  dreams  so  numerous  that  here  and  there  one 
must  in  the  long  run  coincide  with  the  event,  while 
those  which  remain  fruitless  soon  pass  away  and 
leave  no  trace  in  the  memory.  Possibly  dreams  of 
the  number  drawn  for  conscription — since  the  event 
would  affect  the  dreamer  more  nearly  than  the  re- 
sult of  a  race  or  lottery — are  even  more  common. 
In  the  only  case  given  by  Professor  Hulin  in  detail, 
the  dream  took  place  two  months  beforehand,  and 
the  lad  had  been  for  months  previously  in  great 
anxiety  as  to  the  issue.     Further  it  is  to  be  noted 

*  Journal,  S.P.R.,  October,  1894.  It  is  not  clear  from  the  account  that 
M.  Van  Dooren,  the  commissaire,  testifies  of  his  own  knowledge  to  the  three 
cases  occurring  in  1893  and  1S94. 


348        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

that  in  all  five  cases  the  number  dreamt  of  was  a 
high,  i.e.,  a  favourable  one,  and  the  dream  no  doubt 
would  win  more  credence  because  of  its  good 
augury.  But  it  is  not  quite  so  easy  to  be  satisfied 
that  the  dreams  last  noted — of  which  three  are  re- 
ported as  occurring  in  the  same  village,  Eecloo,  in 
the  course  of  less  than  ten  years — were  due  wholly 
to  chance.  It  would  certainly  appear  that  there  is 
a  case  for  further  enquiry  here.^ 

We  have  a  few  cases  of  correct  predictions  made 
by  professional  mediums.^  But  here  again,  in  view 
of  the  large  number  of  predictions  made  under  sim- 
ilar circumstances  which  are  not  fulfilled  and  are 
forgotten,  it  would  be  unsafe  at  present  to  count 
too  highly  the  few  shots  which  hit  the  mark. 

We  have  numerous  cases  reported  to  us  of  un- 
usual sights  or  sounds — animals,  corpse-lights, 
Banshees,  the  death-watch — preceding  a  death. 
But  the  evidence  in  these  cases  is  in  its  present 
state  quite  insufficient  to  establish  any  connection. 
One  obvious  defect  in  the  symbolic  dream  or 
omen  is  that  there  is  no  intrinsic  relation  between 
the  event  and  its  symbol.  Our  own  ancestors  saw 
a  connection  between   comets  and  disasters  ;  and 


'  Even  if  the  facts  are  admitted  in  these  cases  to  be  beyond  the  scope  of 
chance,  foreknowledge  of  the  future,  as  Mr.  Myers  points  out  (^Proceedings, 
S.P.R.,  xi.,  p.  547),  is  not  necessarily  involved.  The  guidance  of  a  higher 
intelligence,  gifted  with  clairvoyant  powers,  which  should  direct  the  dream- 
er's hand  to  the  appointed  number,  would  be  a  less  incredible  assumption. 
But  until  we  have  further  information  on  such  cases,  it  would  be  premature 
to  pursue  the  speculation. 

'  A  striking  case  will  be  found  in  Journal,  S.P.R.,  March,  1901. 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        349 

the  modern  Celt  believes  will-o'-the-wisp  lights  to 
betoken  death.  Prima  facie,  the  one  belief  has  as 
much  to  say  for  itself  as  the  other.  There  is  a 
natural  tendency  to  believe  that  an  unusual  occur- 
rence, anything  out  of  the  ordinary  routine  of  life, 
is  to  be  construed  as  a  portent.  Hence  the  almost 
universal  belief,  at  a  certain  stage  of  civilisation,  in 
omens.  Clearly,  to  establish  a  connection  between 
an  unusual  sight  or  sound  and  a  subsequent  event 
(most  commonly  a  death)  we  need  a  long  series  of 
coincidences.  But  in  the  symbolic  prophecies  before 
us  we  have  no  unimpeachable  record  to  attest  such 
a  series  of  coincidences.  We  are  forced  to  rely 
upon  fallible  memories,  for  the  most  part  unsup- 
ported by  documents.  In  other  words,  we  have 
little  security  that  the  "  misses  "  have  been  recorded 
as  well  as  the  **  hits."  And  this  forgetfulness  of  the 
unfulfilled  omen  is  especially  likely  to  occur  with 
persons  of  the  peasant  class,  who  form  the  bulk  of 
our  witnesses  for  symbolic  hallucinations ;  and, 
again,  is  specially  liable  to  affect  dreams,  the  form 
of  symbolism  for  which  we  have  most  educated 
testimony.  Yet  another  defect  of  this  class  of  evi- 
dence is  that  no  definite  term  is  fixed  for  the  ful- 
filment of  the  omen.  This,  indeed,  is  a  defect 
common  to  prophetic  intimations  in  general,  but  is 
peculiarly  noticeable  in  this  class.  The  death 
may  follow  the  corpse-lights  by  two  or  three  days; 
but  the  omen  may  fulfil  itself  unquestioned  in 
months  or  years.  Again,  there  is  the  vagueness  of 
the  event  foreshadowed.     The  omen  may  point  to 


350        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

a  mother  or  son.  But  some  of  our  seers  are  con- 
tented with  the  death,  after  an  interval  of  weeks, 
of  a  step-grandmother,  an  uncle  by  marriage,  or 
even  a  mere  acquaintance. 

One  case  may  perhaps  be  quoted,  as  illustrative 
of  the  kind  of  evidence  which  is  required  to  make 
reports  of  vague  occurrences  of  this  kind  worthy  of 
serious  consideration. 

No.  74.     From  Mrs.  Verrall  ' 

"  5  Selwyn  Gardens,  Cambridge, 

"  [jTuesday]  September  20th,  1898,  3  p.m. 

"  Dear  Mr.  Myers  : 

"Just  a  line  for  the  stamp  of  the  post — in  case  any- 
thing has  '  occurred  ' — to  say  that  this  afternoon,  at  2.30,  I 
heard  the  curious  ticking  which  I  think  I  have  mentioned  to 
you.  It  comes  usually,  if  not  always,  when  I  am  lying  down, 
and  may  be  due  to  some  physical  cause  ;  but  it  has  at  least 
once  been  associated  with  the  illness  of  a  friend,  so  I  make  a 
point  of  noting  it,  and  I  suppose  the  stamp  of  the  post  is 
desirable. 

"  But  absit  omen  ! 

"  M.  DE  G.  Verrall." 

Mr.  Myers  noted  on  this  letter :  "  Received 
September  20th,  1898,  8.30  p.m." 

The  omen  was  "fulfilled"  on  the  following  day. 
Mrs.  Verrall's  sister,  landing  from  the  steamer  at 
Ouistreham,  between  ten  and  eleven  p.m.,  on  the 
2 1  St,  made  a  false  step  and  plunged  into  the  water 
of  the  harbour.  She  was  rescued  by  the  boat- 
swain, who  heard  the  splash,  and  suffered  no  seri- 
ous ill  effects.     But  no  one  had  seen  her  fall,  there 

1  Journal,  S.P.R,,  November,  1899,  p.  135. 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        351 

was  imminent  risk  of  being  drawn  under  the  ship, 
and  her  Hfe  was  for  a  few  moments  in  great 
danger. 

On  another  occasion  Mrs.  Verrall  noted  down  the 
occurrence  of  the  ticking,  and  subsequently  found 
that  the  time  coincided  with  the  commencement  of 
the  serious  illness  of  an  intimate  friend.  On  the 
only  two  other  occasions  on  which  Mrs.  Verrall  has 
heard  the  ticking,  it  seemed  to  have  a  premonitory 
significance. 

It  may  be  hoped  that,  as  attention  is  increasingly 
called  to  the  subject,  careful  records  like  that  last 
quoted  may  be  multiplied,  so  that  it  may  ultimately 
be  found  possible  to  estimate  the  real  significance 
of  these  omens. 

There  is  another  class  of  predictions,  the  exist- 
ence of  which  seems  to  be  well  established.  The 
early  Magnetists  have  put  on  record  that  some  of 
their  somnambules  could  accurately  foretell  the  ap- 
proach of  disease  in  their  own  persons ;  could  fore- 
cast the  course  of  the  disease,  predict  the  occurrence 
of  crises,  and  indicate  the  date  of  recovery.  More 
rarely  this  power  of  predictioi^  extended  to  the  ail- 
ments of  others.  Recent  observations  have  con- 
firmed the  accuracy  of  these  early  reports  in  both 
respects.  Several  cases  have  been  reported  to  us 
in  which  persons  have  predicted  serious  illness  or 
death  to  themselves.  For  an  instance,  see  the 
case  recorded  by  the  Rev.  A.  T.  Fryer,  in  which 
a  lady,  the  wife  of  a  clergyman,  had  a  warning 
in  a  dream   of  a  serious  illness  and  her  eventual 


352        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

recovery.  The  illness — blood-poisoning — in  fact 
came  on  the  day  following  the  dream.  * 

In  a  case  recorded  by  Mr.  Glardon,  his  aunt, 
Mme.  J.  O.  predicted  early  in  August  that  her 
death  would  take  place  in  six  weeks.  Mr.  Glardon 
sent  us  a  note  of  the  prediction  before  the  death 
was  known,  intimating  that  the  period  would  ex- 
pire on  the  15th  of  September.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  lady  died  on  the  I4th.^ 

These  predictions  occur,  almost  invariably,  in 
trance  or  dreams,  and  the  circumstances  would 
seem  occasionally  to  indicate  that  the  subject  of 
them  is  able,  in  the  enlarged  and  more  primitive 
stage  of  consciousness  existing  in  those  states,  to 
perceive  the  latent  presence  of  disease  and  the 
workings  of  organic  processes,  in  himself  or  in 
others,  which  are  hidden  from  the  work-a-day  self. 
More  generally,  however,  the  explanation  is  of  a 
simpler  kind.  The  prophecy  is  made  to  work  out 
its  own  fulfilment ;  the  seer  sets  his  organism  sub- 
consciously to  explode  in  a  predestined  crisis,  or  to 
emerge  in  sanity  from  a  self-imposed  period  of  ill 
health. 

Speaking  generally  this  particular  class  of  cases 
points  at  most  to  the  vestiges  of  a  lost  power  of 
forecasting  or  guiding  organic  processes,  rather 
than  to  the  rudiments  of  a  new  faculty  transcending 
human  limitations.^ 

'  Journal,  S.P.R.,  January,  igo6. 
'^  Proceedings,  S.P.R.,  vol.  xi.,  p.  431. 

^  Dr.  Liebeault  has  sent  us  his  notes  of    a  curious  case.     On  the  26th 
December,  1879,  M.  C consulted  a  "  Necromancer"  in  Paris,  who  told 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        353 

There  are  one  or  two  striking  cases,  at  first 
glance  apparently  prophetic,  which  again  suggest 
another  explanation.  Mrs.  McAlpine,  who  has  had 
several  telepathic  experiences,  has  given  us  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  a  vision  which  took  place  in 
June,  1889. 

No.  75.     From  Mrs.  McAlpine  ' 
"Garscadden,  Bearsden,  Glasgow,  April  20th,  1892. 

[Whilst  waiting  for  a  train  at  Castleblaney,  Mrs.  McAlpine 
wandered  by  the  side  of  a  lake.]  "  Being  at  length  tired,  I  sat 
down  to  rest  upon  a  rock  at  the  edge  of  the  water.  My  atten- 
tion was  quite  taken  up  with  the  extreme  beauty  of  the  scene 
before  me.  There  was  not  a  sound  or  movement,  except  the 
soft  ripple  of  the  water  on  the  sand  at  my  feet.  Presently  I 
felt  a  cold  chill  creep  through  me,  and  a  curious  stiffness  of 
my  limbs,  as  if  I  con  id  not  move,  though  wishing  to  do  so.  I 
felt  frightened,  yet  chained  to  the  spot,  and  as  if  impelled  to 
stare  at  the  water  straight  in  front  of  me.  Gradually  a  black 
cloud  seemed  to  rise,  and  in  the  midst  of  it  I  saw  a  tall  man, 
in  a  suit  of  tweed,  jump  into  the  water  and  sink. 

"  In  a  moment  the  darkness  was  gone,  and  I  again  became 
sensible  of  the  heat  and  sunshine,  but  I  was  awed  and  felt 
'  eerie.'  " 

A  few  days  later  a  man,  a  clerk  in  a  bank,  actu- 
ally committed  suicide  in  this  very  piece  of  water. 

him,  amongst  other  predictions,  which  were  eventually  fulfilled,  that  he 
would  die  at  twenty-six.  He  was  then  nineteen.  The  young  man  came  in 
January,  1886,  to  consult  Dr.  Liebeault,  who  made  a  note  of  the  prediction. 
In  fact  M.  C died  in  September  of  the  same  year,  when  still  not  twenty- 
seven.  The  young  man  was  under  treatment  at  the  time  for  biliary  calculi ; 
and  the  cause  of  death  was  peritonitis,  consequent  on  an  internal  rupture. 
It  is  difficult  to  suppose,  therefore,  that  the  prediction  in  this  case  wrought 
its  own  fulfilment  or  that  the  cause  of  death  could  have  been  foreseen  nor- 
mally seven  years  before.     {^Proceedings  S.P.R.,  vol.  xi.,  p.  528.) 

■  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  x.,  p.  332. 
23 


354        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

Mrs.  McAlpine's  sister  has  a  dim  recollection  of 
being  told  of  the  vision  before  the  occurrence  of 
the  tragedy. 

With  this  may  be  compared  another  vision  fore- 
shadowing a  tragedy.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
William  Terriss,  the  actor,  was  stabbed  at  the  en- 
trance to  the  Adelphi  Theatre,  by  a  discharged 
member  of  the  company  who  fancied  that  he  had 
a  grievance  against  him.  The  murder  took  place 
at  7.20  p.  M.  on  the  i6th  December,  1897.  On  the 
same    evening   a  member  of   the  company,   Miss 

H ,  told  some  friends  of  mine  of  the  murder, 

and  of  the  dream  told  to  her  by  Mr.  Lane.  Four 
days  later  I  saw  Mr.  Lane,  who  had  been  acting  as 
understudy  to  Terriss,  and  obtained  from  him  the 
following  account. 

No.  76.      From  Mr.  Frederick  Lane  * 

"Adelphi  Theatre,  December  20th,  1897. 

"  In  the  early  morning  of  the  i6th  December,  1897,  I  dreamt 
that  I  saw  the  late  Mr.  Terriss  lying  in  a  state  of  delirium  or 
unconsciousness  on  the  stairs  leading  to  the  dressing-rooms  in 
the  Adelphi  Theatre.  He  was  surrounded  by  people  engaged 
at  the  theatre,  amongst  whom  were  Miss  Millward  and  one  of 
the  footmen  who  attend  the  curtain,  both  of  whom  I  actually 
saw  a  few  hours  later  at  the  death  scene.  His  chest  was  bare 
and  clothes  torn  aside.  Everybody  who  was  around  him  was 
trying  to  do  something  for  his  good.  This  dream  was  in  the 
shape  of  a  picture.  I  saw  it  like  a  tableau  on  which  the  cur- 
tain would  rise  and  fall.  I  immediately  after  dreamt  that  we 
did  not  open  at  the  Adelphi  Theatre  that  evening.  I  was  in 
my  dressing-room  in  the  dream,  but  this  latter  part  was  some- 
what incoherent.     The  next  morning  on  going  down  to  the 

'     ^Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  Feb.,  1898,  p.  195. 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        355 

theatre  for  rehearsal  the  first  member  of  the  company  I  met 
was  Miss  H ,  to  whom  I  mentioned  this  dream.  On  ar- 
riving at  the  theatre  I  also  mentioned  it  to  several  other  mem- 
bers of  the  company,  including  Messrs.  Creagh  Henry,  Buxton, 
Carter  Bligh,  &c.  This  dream,  though  it  made  such  an  im- 
pression upon  me  as  to  cause  me  to  relate  it  to  my  fellow 
artists,  did  not  give  me  the  idea  of  any  coming  disaster.  I 
may  state  that  I  have  dreamt  formerly  of  deaths  of  relatives 
and  other  matters  which  have  impressed  me,  but  the  dreams 
have  never  impressed  me  sufficiently  to  make  me  repeat  them 
the  following  morning,  and  have  never  been  verified.  My 
dream  of  the  present  occasion  was  the  most  vivid  I  have  ever 
experienced,  in  fact,  life-like,  and  exactly  represented  the 
scene  as  I  saw  it  at  night. 

"Frederick  Lane." 

Mr.  Lane  explained  to  me  that  he  was  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  theatre  when  Mr.  Terriss  was 
stabbed  and  ran  to  the  Charing  Cross  Hospital  for 
a  doctor ;  on  his  return  he  looked  in  at  the  private 
entrance,  and  saw  Mr.  Terriss  lying  on  the  stairs  as 
in  the  dream. 

Miss  H writes  as  follows  : 

"  Adklphi  Theatre,  [Saturday],  i8th  Dec,  1S97. 
"  On  Thursday  morning  about  12  o'clock  I  went  into  Rule's, 
Maiden  Lane,  and  there  found  Mr.  Lane  with  Mr.  Wade.  In 
the  course  of  conversation  after  Mr.  Wade  had  left,  Mr.  Lane 
said  that  he  had  had  a  curious  dream  the  night  before  the 
effects  of  which  he  still  felt.  It  was  to  this  effect:  he  had 
seen  Terriss  on  the  stairs  inside  the  Maiden  Lane  door  (the 
spot  where  Terriss  died)  and  that  he  was  surrounded  by  a 
crowd  of  people,  and  that  he  was  raving,  but  he  (Mr.  Lane) 
could  n't  exactly  tell  what  was  the  matter.  I  remember  laugh- 
ing about  this,  and  then  we  went  to  rehearsal." 


35^        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 
Mr.  Carter  Bligh  writes  : 

"4th  Jan.,  1898. 

"  I  must  apologise  for  delay  in  replying  to  your  note.  ...  1 
have  much  pleasure  in  being  able  to  state  that  Mr.  Fred 
Lane  on  the  morning  of  the  i6th  ult.  at  rehearsal  at  the  Adelphi 
Theatre  told  me  among  others  in  a  jocular  and  chafifing  way 
{not  believing  in  if  for  an  instant)  how  he  probably  would  be 
called  upon  to  play  '  Captain  Thomas  '  that  night  as  he  had 
dreamt  that  something  serious  had  happened  to  Terriss.  I 
forget  now,  and  therefore  do  not  attempt  to  repeat,  the  exact 
words  Mr.  Lane  used  as  to  the  reason  (in  the  dream)  why  Mr. 
Terriss  would  not  appear  that  night,  but  I  have  a  distinct 
recollection  of  him  saying  that  he  (Terriss)  could  not  do  so, 
because  of  his  having  dreamt  that  something  had  happened. 
It  was  all  passed  over  very  lightly  in  the  same  spirit  in  which 
it  was  given,  /.  ^.,  in  the  spirit  of  unbelieving  banter." 

Mr.  Creagh  Henry,  another  member  of  the  com- 
pany, wrote  on  the  20th  January  to  say  that  on  the 
morning  of  the  i6th  December  he  heard  Mr.  Lane 
relate  a  dream  in  which  he  had  seen  Mr.  Terriss 
"  upon  the  landing  where  he  died,  surrounded  by 
several  people  who  were  supporting  him  in  what 
appeared  to  be  a  fit." 

It  seems  here  that  the  dream-vision  presented  a 
fairly  accurate  and  detailed  picture  of  the  event. 
The  dream  was  not  of  a  common  type,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  dismiss  it  as  merely  a  chance-coin- 
cidence. But  neither  in  this  case  nor  in  the  one 
related  by  Mrs.  McAlpine  is  it  necessary  to  suppose 
that  for  the  seer  the  veil  of  the  future  was  moment- 
tarily  lifted. 

The  lines  of  telepathic  influence,  as  we  have  had 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        357 

already  occasion  to  observe,  do  not  seem  invariably 
to  be  marked  out  by  kinship  or  affection.  It 
would  seem  possible  then  that  the  chief  actor  in 
the  tragedy,  brooding  in  solitude,  may  have  un- 
awares communicated  to  some  mind,  which  hap- 
pened to  be  sensitive  to  its  reception,  the  outline 
of  the  picture  in  which  he  embodied  his  desperate 
purpose.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  percipient  in 
each  case  had  some  connection  with  the  locality  of 
the  tragedy. 

There  are,  however,  a  few  well  attested  cases  in 
which  the  coincidence  seems  too  definite  to  be 
attributed  to  chance,  while  no  other  solution  can 
apparently  be  suggested.  Of  the  apparent  refer- 
ences to  future  events  contained  in  Mrs.  Verrall's 
script  I  select  the  following : 

No.  77.     From  Mrs.  Verrall  ' 

"On  December  nth,  1901,  the  script  wrote  as  follows  : 

" '  Nothing  too  mean  the  trivial  helps,  gives  confidence. 
Hence  this.  Frost  and  a  candle  in  the  dim  light.  Mar- 
montel  he  was  reading  on  a  sofa  or  in  bed — there  was 
only  a  candle's  light.  She  will  surely  remember  this.  The 
book  was  lent  not  his  own — he  talked  about  it.' 

"  Then,  after  a  reference  to  a  separate  incident,  recognised 
as  such,  there  appeared  a  fanciful  but  unmistakable  attempt  at 
the  name  Sidgwick." 

[Mrs.  Verrall  thought  that  "  she  "  might  refer  to  Mrs.  Sidg- 
wick, and  wrote  to  ask  whether  the  name  Marmontel  had  any 
meaning  for  her.  Mrs.  Sidgwick  replied  in  the  negative,  but 
suggested  that  it  might  possibly  occur  in  some  MSS.  that  she 
was  reading.] 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xx.,  pp.  331-333.  See  above,  Chapter  XHI., 
for  some  account  of  Mrs.  Verrall's  automatic  writing. 


35^        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

*'  On  the  17th  Dec,  the  script  wrote  : 

"  *  I  wanted  to  write  Marmontel  is  right.  It  was  a  French 
book,  a  '  Memoir  I  think.  Passy  may  help  Souvenirs  de 
Passy  or  Fleury.  Marmontel  was  not  on  the  cover — the  book 
was  bound  and  was  lent — two  volumes  in  old-fashioned  bind- 
ing and  print.  It  is  not  in  any  papers — it  is  an  attempt  to 
make  someone  remember — an  incident."* 

[Mrs.  Verrall  is  not  conscious  of  having  heard  of  Marmon- 
tel's  name  until  it  was  written  in  the  script.  A  few  weeks 
later  she  saw  the  name  in  a  bookseller's  catalogue.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1902,  she  wrote  to  a  friend,  Mr.  Marsh,  to  invite  him  for 
a  week-end  visit.  He  fixed  March  the  ist.  This  was  the 
only  communication  she  had  had  with  him  since  June,  1901.] 

"  On  March  ist  Mr.  Marsh  arrived,  and  that  evening  at  din- 
ner he  mentioned  that  he  had  been  reading  Marmontel.  I 
asked  if  he  had  read  the  Moral  Tales,  and  he  replied  that  it 
was  the  Memoirs.  I  was  interested  in  this  reference  to  Mar- 
montel, and  asked  Mr.  Marsh  for  particulars  about  his  read- 
ing, at  the  same  time  explaining  the  reasons  for  my  curiosity. 
He  then  told  me  that  he  got  the  book  from  the  London 
Library,  and  took  the  first  volume  only  to  Paris  with  him, 
where  he  read  it  on  the  evening  of  February  20th,  and  again 
on  February  21st.  On  each  occasion  he  read  by  the  light  of 
a  candle,  on  the  20th  he  was  in  bed,  on  the  21st  lying  on  two 
chairs.  He  talked  about  the  book  to  the  friends  with  whom 
he  was  staying  in  Paris.  The  weather  was  cold,  but  there 
was,  he  said,  no  frost.  The  London  Library  copy  is  bound,  as 
most  of  their  books  are,  not  in  modern  binding,  but  the  name 
*  Marmontel '  is  on  the  back  of  the  volume.  The  edition 
has  three  volumes  ;  in  Paris  Mr.  Marsh  had  only  one  volume, 
but  at  the  time  of  his  visit  to  us  he  had  read  the  second  also. 

"  I  asked  him  whether  '  Passy '  or  '  Fleury  *  would  '  help,' 
and  he  replied  that  Fleury's  name  certainly  occurred  in  the 
book,  in  a  note  ;  he  was  not  sure  about  Passy,  bat  undertook 
to  look  it  up  on  his  return  to  town,  and  to  ascertain,  as  he 
could  by  reference  to  the  book,  what  part  of  the  first  volume 

'  Possibly  "  or.  " 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        359 

he  had  been  reading  in  Paris.  He  is  in  the  habit  of  reading 
in  bed,  but  has  electric  light  in  his  bedroom  at  home,  so  that 
he  had  not  read  '  in  bed  or  on  a  sofa  by  candle  light '  for 
months,  till  he  read  Marmontel  in  Paris. 

"  On  his  return  to  town  Mr.  Marsh  wrote  to  me  (March  4, 
1902),  that  on  February  21st,  while  lying  on  two  chairs,  he 
read  a  chapter  in  the  first  volume  of  Marmontel's  Memoirs 
describing  the  finding  at  Passy  of  a  panel,  etc.,  connected 
•with  a  story  in  which  Fleury  plays  an  important  part.' 

"  It  will  thus  be  noted  that  the  script  in  December,  1901, 
describes  (as  past)  an  incident  which  actually  occurred  two 
and  a  half  months  later,  in  February,  1902, — an  incident 
which  at  the  time  of  writing  was  not  likely  to  have  been  fore- 
seen by  any  one.  I  ascertained  from  Mr.  Marsh  that  the  idea 
of  reading  Marmontel  occurred  to  him  not  long  before  his 
visit  to  Paris.  It  is  probable  that  had  he  not  seen  me  almost 
immediately  upon  his  return,  when  his  mind  was  full  of  the 
book,  I  should  never  have  heard  of  his  reading  it,  and  there- 
fore not  have  discovered  the  application  of  the  script  of 
December  i6th  and  17th." 

The  coincidences  here  are  so  numerous  and  de- 
finite that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  attribute  them 
to  chance,  and  the  difficulty  is  increased  when  we 
take  into  account  the  other  instances  of  the  same 
kind  contained  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script. 

There  remain,  as  already  indicated,  a  consider- 
able number  of  cases  of  dreams  which  seem  to 
foreshadow  in  some  detail  future  events,  and  for 
which  no  explanation  can  apparently  be  suggested. 
Of  these  narratives  the  two  which  follow  are  per- 
haps the  best  attested. 

'  Mrs.  Verrall  adds  that,  as  far  as  she  can  discover,  the  names  Passy  and 
Fleury  do  not  appear  together  in  any  passage  except  that  read  by  Mr.  Marsh 
on  2 1st  February. 


360        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

No.  78.     From  Colonel  K.  Coghill,  C.  B, 

"April,  1894. 
"  A  curious  case  occurred  to  me  last  month,  though  it  may 
be  but  a  coincidence  not  worth  recounting.  On  28th  March  I 
received  a  letter  from  a  lady,  with  whom  I  had  not  been  in 
correspondence  for  about  a  year,  stating  that  on  the  26th  she 
had  either  a  vision  or  dream  (I  forget  the  expression)  that  she 
saw  me  in  a  very  dangerous  position  under  a  horse  from  which 
many  people  were  trying  to  relieve  me.  By  return  of  post  I 
wrote  that  I  thought  it  a  dream  which  was  proved  by  con- 
traries, as  nothing  of  the  sort  had  occurred.  That  afternoon 
I  received  notice  of  a  last '  off  day  '  with  our  pack  of  hounds, 
and  the  next  morning  on  my  way  to  covert  I  posted  my  letter. 
At  the  finish  of  a  long  run  in  the  afternoon,  my  horse,  pulling 
double  down  a  steep  hill,  was  unable  to  collect  himself  for  a 
big  bank  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  breasted  it,  and  fell  head 
over  heels  into  a  deep  and  broad  drop  ditch  on  the  far  side, 
with  me  underneath  him.  His  head  and  shoulders  were  at 
the  bottom,  and  legs  remained  up  on  the  landing  side  of  the 
ditch.  Many  of  the  field  dismounted,  and  after  some  minutes 
pulled  the  horse  away,  and  got  me  from  under,  more  or  less 
stunned,  but  little  the  worse,  except  a  few  face  cuts,  the  loss 
of  a  tooth,  and  a  crushed  stirrup,  and  the  horse  with  a  few 
head  cuts.  The  horse  was  about  my  best  hunter  and  never 
before  guilty  of  such  a  thing,  though,  of  course,  it  may  have 
been  but  a  hunting-field  coincidence." 

The  letter  in  which  the  lady  in  question,  the 
Hon.  Mrs.  Leir  Carleton,  related  her  dream,  is  un- 
fortunately lost,  but  Sir  Joseph  Coghill  writes  : 

"  Glen  Barrabane,  Castle  Townsend, 

"  May  3rd,  1894. 
"  On  the  29th  March  last,  my  brother,  Colonel  Coghill, 
showed  me  a  portion  of  a  letter  just  received  from  a  lady,  who 
wrote  describing  a  dream  or  vision  in  which  she  saw  him 
meet  with  a  serious  accident  from  a  horse,  and  she  noticed  a 
crowd  of  persons  assisting  him  away." 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        361 

Colonel  Coghill  himself  wrote  by  return  of  post, 
before  the  accident,  as  follows  : 

"  28th  March. 
**  My  dear  Mrs.  Carleton  :  Need  I  say  how  delighted  I 
was  to  see  your  handwriting  this  morning,  and  how  happy  I 
am  that  your  dream  has  so  far  proved  the  rule  of  going  by 
*  contraries,'  for  I  never  in  my  life  was  going  stronger  than 
I  am  at  present." 

On  the  31st  March  Colonel  Coghill  wrote  to 
Mrs.  Carleton  again  : 

"  You  win,  hands  down  ,  .  .  had  you  lived  earlier  you 
might  have  been  burned  as  a  witch,  for  by  your  dream  you 
foretold  a  grief  to  me,  though  in  prospective.  Yesterday  '  I 
enjoyed  the  im.perial  crowner  which  you  saw  in  your  dream, 
the  hardest  fall  I  have  had  for  very  many  years.  .  .  . 
Tableau  —  Six  legs  in  the  air.  2nd  view  —  A  man  in  the 
ditch,  with  horse  on  top  of  his  (the  man's)  head.  Here  your 
dream  fails,  for  instead  of  an  unsympathetic  crowd  helping 
him,  I  was  released  by  half  a  dozen  friends,  including  the 
Master,  and  about  as  many  ladies.  3rd  Tableau — All  their 
loose  horses  pursuing  the  hounds  riderless. 

"  My  first  thought,  when  down,  was  your  dream,  and  before 
my  head  was  out  of  the  mud,  I  said,  'At  any  rate,  as  I  am  to 
be  led  away  by  some  one,  the  neck  must  be  all  right,'  and  so  it 
was,  and  I  got  off  very  cheaply." 

Mrs.  Leir  Carleton  has  informed  us  that  from  a 
child  she  has  "had  premonitions  of  illness:  some- 
times the  illness  proved  trivial  and  sometimes  fatal. 
I  have  no  distinct  impressions,  coming  events 
seem  to  cast  shadows  before  them."'^ 

'  It  may  be  noticed  that  there  is  a  slight  discrepancy  here.  According 
to  Colonel  Coghill's  letter  of  April,  the  accident  took  place  on  the  29th 
March.     Possibly  his  letter  should  have  been  dated  30th,  not  31st,  March. 

'  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vol.  xi.,  pp.  489-91- 


362        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

The  next  case  was  procured  for  us  by  Pro- 
fessor Romaine  Newbold,  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania. 

No,  79.     From  Professor  Romaine  Newbold  ' 

"Sedgwick,  Maine,  August  29th,  1900. 

"  This  morning  my  wife  and  I  reached  this  out-of-the-way 
nook,  some  forty  miles  by  water,  though  I  believe  but  twenty 
by  land,  from  Bar  Harbour,  and  a  few  hours  after  our  arrival 
I  got  the  details  of  a  coincidence  which  I  wish  to  record  and 
send  you  at  once. 

"  My  wife's  parents,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Geo.  T.  Packard,  and  her 
brother  Kent,  aged  13!^,  have  been  spending  the  summer  here. 
Kent  met  us  on  the  wharf,  and  on  the  way  up  told  me  some- 
thing about  being  '  chased  by  a  white  horse,'  but  I  paid  little 
attention  to  him.  After  dinner,  while  his  mother  and  sister  and 
I  were  talking  over  the  happenings  of  the  summer,  Kent  came 
into  the  room  and  said  to  his  mother  something — I  did  not 
catch  the  exact  words — as  to  the  dream  he  had  some  time 
ago  about  being  chased  by  a  white  horse.  Great  excitement 
ensued,  all  began  to  talk  at  once.  I  scented  something  of 
value  for  the  S.P.R.,  and  succeeded  in  quieting  the  confusion. 
Then  I  made  them  tell  their  stories  in  due  order  and  took 
them  down  in  writing.  From  the  notes  which  I  then  made  I 
have  written  out  the  following  account.  It  has  been  verified 
by  the  witnesses. 

*'(i)  Mrs.  Packard's  recollections.  (Kent  heard  her  tell  this, 
but  was  not  allowed  to  comment  on  it.)  At  home  in  Boston, 
not  long  before  they  came  down  here,  Kent  one  night  had  a 
severe  nightmare.  He  began  to  scream,  thrash  about  in  the 
bed,  and  strike  wildly  in  all  directions.  Mrs.  P.  tried  to 
soothe  him  and  finally  got  him  awake.  He  said  he  had 
dreamed  that  a  white  horse  was  chasing  him  around  a  wharf. 
He  was  so  excited  that  he  slept  but  little  more  that  night, 
waking  and  crying  out  at  intervals.    Mr.  Packard  was  wakened 

'  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  February,  1901. 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        363 

by  the  noise  of  the  first  attack,  and  Mrs.  P.  remembers  going 
in  and  explaining  to  him  the  cause.  She  remembers  no 
further  details  of  the  dream. 

"  (2)  Ethel  Packard  Newbold  remembers  that  she  was  told 
about  the  dream  next  morning,  and  that  Kent  at  breakfast 
kept  saying,  *  Oh  that  white  horse ' ;  with  expressive  gestures 
of  horror.  (N.B. — This  would  fix  the  date  as  falling  between 
May  28th,  when  E.  P.  N.  went  to  Boston,  and  June  i6th, 
when  I  went  there.  I  heard  nothing  of  this.  The  family 
left  Boston  June  25th.) 

"  (3)  Mr.  Packard  remembers  being  awakened  by  the  night- 
mare, and  is  sure  it  was  in  Boston,  but  did  not  at  first  re- 
member anything  about  the  content  of  the  dream.  Upon 
reflection  he  has  a  dim  memory  of  the  horse  incident. 

"  (4)  Kent  is  at  first  sure  he  had  the  dream  after  he  came  to 
Sedgwick,  and  that  '  Ethel  only  imagines  she  remembers 
it.'  After  some  reflection  he  concludes  that  it  was  in  Boston 
he  had  it.  He  dreamed  that  he  was  on  a  wharf,  walking 
along.  Some  people,  among  them  his  mother,  had  just  got 
out  of  a  row-boat,  upon  the  wharf.  He  had  just  passed  them, 
— heard  cries  and  '  yells  '  of  *  Look  out,'  heard  footsteps 
but  they  were  not  heavy — very  light  indeed  for  a  horse. 
Glanced  over  his  shoulder  and  saw  a  white  horse,  mouth  open, 
long  jaw,  about  to  bite  him, — then  he  sprang  into  the  water 
and — woke  to  find  his  mother  shaking  him. 

"  (5)  What  happened.  Kent's  account.  He  had  just  come 
out  of  the  baggage  room  on  the  wharf  at  Sedgwick  and  was 
walking  along  the  end  of  the  wharf.  A  row-boat  came  up 
and  the  people  got  out,  as  happened  in  the  dream,  but  his 
mother  was  not  among  them.  He  passed  them,  heard  the 
cries,  the  footsteps,  looked  back  and  saw  the  white  horse,  the 
open  mouth,  the  long  jaw  and  face,  the  ears  pressed  back;  he 
jumped,  not  into  the  water,  but  into  a  gangway  about  ten  feet 
wide,  which  ran  from  the  level  of  the  pier  to  high-water  mark. 
About  two  hours  afterwards  he  recalled  the  dream  and  was 
much  startled  when  he  recognised  the  coincidence. 

"  Kent  laid  stress  upon  the  points  that  both  in  the  dream 


364        On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision 

and  in  fact  the  people  who  got  out  of  the  row-boat  were  among 
those  that  called  to  him,  that  the  footsteps  were  light^  not 
heavy,  as  one  would  suppose  those  of  a  horse  would  be,  and 
that  the  horse's  jaw  and  head  seemed  so  long.  These  items 
are  of  course  of  no  evidential  value,  but  the  main  facts  —  of 
being  chased  on  a  wharf  by  a  white  horse  —  are,  I  think, 
pretty  well  established. 

"I  have  read  this  over  to  the  witnesses,  and  it  has  been 
approved  by  them  all  with  the  changes  indicated  [in  the 
original  MS,  and  here  incorporated].  Kent  says  he  cannot  be 
sure  the  wharf  of  his  dream  was  the  same  wharf  he  was  on 
this  morning.  It  was  'just  a  wharf  and  all  wharfs  are  pretty 
much  alike.'  And  he  did  not  notice  in  the  dream  that  the 
white  horse  was  attached  to  a  buggy.  It  might  have  been, 
but  he  did  not  observe  whether  it  was  or  not." 

Professor  Newbold  afterwards  ascertained  from 
eye-witnesses  that  the  incident  had  actually  occurred 
as  stated  by  the  boy.  In  this  case  it  seems  to  be 
conclusively  proved  that  a  dream  of  a  dramatic 
character  was  dreamt  by  the  boy  Kent  Packard, 
some  weeks  before  the  occurrence  of  an  incident 
closely  resembling  in  its  main  features  the  incident 
which  figured  in  the  dream.  The  impression 
made  by  the  dream  upon  the  boy's  family  seems 
to  show  that  it  was  of  an  exceptional  character. 
But  one  or  two  experiences  of  this  kind,  however 
impressive  and  however  well  attested,  are  of  course 
insufficient  in  themselves  to  form  the  basis  of  a 
hypothesis.  For  if  it  is  admitted  that  all  evi- 
dence in  such  matters  which  depends  at  all  on 
mere  memory  is  subject  to  a  large  and  at  present 
indefinable  discount,  it  seems  clear  that  the  in- 
stances of  what  purport  to  be  prevision  so  far  col- 


On  Clairvoyance  and  Prevision        365 

lected  fall  short  of  redeeming  their  pledge.  Until 
we  meet  with  records  of  prophetic  visions  which 
are  at  least  on  the  same  evidential  level  as  the 
narratives  quoted  say  in  Chapter  VI.,  and  as 
much  more  numerous  and  more  impressive  than 
those  narratives  as  the  faculty  which  they  purport 
to  demonstrate  is  more  remote  than  telepathy 
from  mundane  analogies,  we  can  but  regard  these 
dream-stories  which  we  have  been  considering  as 
the  sports  of  chance  or  the  distorted  mirage  of  our 
own  hopes  and  fears.  Questioning  Leuconoe  must 
still  question  in  vain.  It  does  not  yet  appear  that 
there  are  Babylonish  numbers  or  wizard's  spells, 
visions  by  day  or  dreams  by  night,  which  can  reveal 
to  her  or  us  the  hidden  things  of  fate. 


INDEX 


Agency  in  telepathy,  discussion 
of,  141-148 

Aksakof,  Professor,  case  pro- 
cured by,  292 

Alchemy,  7 

Alexander,  Professor,  cases  pro- 
cured by,  225,  341 

"Angus,"  Miss,  case  contributed 
by,  63 

Animal,  apparent  telepathy 
from,   56 

apparition  of,  143 

Apparitions.  See  Hallucina- 
tions. 

Appreciation  of  time  in  hypnot- 
ism, 334 

Automatic     writing,      72,     283, 

299-305.  343.  357-359 
Automatism,  283-290 


B 


B.,    Mr.    H.,    case    contributed 
Janet's 


by,  84 
B.,      Madame,      Prof. 


subject,  44 
Baggally,  Mr.  W.  W.,  65 
Bagot,    Mrs.,   case    contributed 

by,  143 
Banshee,  348 
Barcellos,  Dr.,  case  recorded  by, 

341 
Barrett,  Professor  W.  F.,  7-9 
Bealings  Bells,  150 


"Beauchamp,"  Miss,  280,  285 

Benecke,  Mrs.,  case  contributed 
by,  246 

Blavatsky,  Madame,  6,  173 

Bourne,  Ansel,  case  of,  280 

Braid,  James,  6 

Bramwell,  Dr.  Milne,  6 

Brierley,  Mr.  J.  A.,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  93 

Broussiloff ,  Madame,  case  con- 
tributed by,  128 

Bruce,  Archdeacon,  case  con- 
tributed by,  72 

Buckley,  Major,  his  experiments 
in  clairvoyance,  337,  339-340 

Busk,  Miss,  case  contributed  by, 
343 


C. ,  Mr.,  case  contributed  by,  288 

C,  Miss  C.  P.  M.,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  58 

Cahagnet,  Alphonse,  and  his 
clairvoyant  subjects,  306 

Calculating  boys,  334 

Campbell,  Miss,  and  Miss  Des- 
pard,  their  experiments  in 
thought     transference,  37-39, 

49 
Carbery,  Lady,  case  contributed 

by,  56 

Camot,  President,  dream  of  his 

assassination,  80 
Castle,     Mrs.,     case  contributed 

by,  69 


367 


368 


Index 


Census    of   hallucinations,    102- 

109,  231-234 
Cerebration,    unconscious,    279 
Chance      coincidence      between 

phantasm  and  death,  105-109 
Children    as   agents   in    sponta- 
neous telepathy,  143 
Cide villa     trial     for   witchcraft, 

151-161 
Clairvoyance,  5,  61-62,  1 11,  331, 

335-344 
Clark,  Miss  C,  case  contributed 

by, 125 
Clarke,    Mr.    J.    T.,    his    sitting 

with  Mrs.  Piper,  311 
Clarkson,  Miss,  case  contributed 

by,  88 
Clothes  of  apparitions,  m 
Cock  Lane  Ghost,  150 
Coghill,  Colonel,  case  contributed 

by, 360 
Collective    hallucinations,    230- 

244 
Community  of  sensation,  9,  44, 

71 

Confessions  of  trickery  in  Pol- 
tergeist cases,  162 

Conley,  Miss,  case  contributed 
by,  227 

Consciousness,  composite  na- 
ture of,  277 

dissociation  of,  in  hallucina- 
tion, 138-140 

in  hypnotism,  279-81 

in      pathological      cases, 

280-285 

Conscription,  dreams  of  number 
drawn  in,  347-348 

Contemporary  notes.  See  Notes, 
contemporary. 

Continuous  observation,  impor- 
tance of,  in  spiritualistic  ex- 
periments, 193-195 


Crookes,  Sir  William,  11,12, 171, 

172  n. 
Crystal  vision,  62-64 


D.,  Mrs.,  case  contributed  by, 
59 

"Danvers,"  Miss,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  118 

Davey,  Mr.  S.  J.,  his  slate- 
writing,  182, 186-195 

Death,  hallucinations  coinciding 
with,  calculation  of  chances, 
105-109 

predictions  of,  352 

Death-watch,  349-350 

Derby,  the,  dreams  of  winner, 
346 

Despard,  Miss,  and  Miss  Camp- 
bell, their  experiments  in 
thought  transference,  37-39, 
49 

Diary,  notes  in.  See  Notes,  con- 
temporary. 

Didier,  Alexis,  his  clairvoy- 
ance, 337-339 

Disinterested  fraud,  174-175 

Dissociation  of  consciousness. 
See  Consciousness. 

Distance  as  affecting  telepathy, 
12,  21-23,  no 

Divining-rod,  7 

Dixon,  Mr.  E.  T.,  168 

Documentary  evidence,  rarity 
of,  in  spontaneous  telepathic 
cases  49,  86,  88.  See  Notes, 
contemporary. 

Dog,  apparition  of,  143 

Dolbear,  Professor,  case  con- 
tributed by,  223 

Dove,  Mr.,  case  contributed  by, 
137 


Index 


369 


Dreams,  general  characteristics, 
76-80,  346 

contrasted  with  hallucina- 
tions, 139 

prophetic,      92      n.,     344- 

36s 

-symbolic,  95,  349 

Drowned  bodies  found  through 

dreams,  229 


E.,  Mrs.,  case  contributed  by, 

"5 

Ectenic  force ,  199,  204 

Eglinton,  William,  spirit  me- 
dium, 175-77,  182 

Elliotson,  Dr.,  9 

Esdaile,  James,  6 

Eusapia  Paladino,  ppirit  me- 
dium, 195-203 

Experimental  Psychology,  Con- 
gress of,  102 

Experiments  in  thought  trans- 
ference, 16-46,  112-119 

at  distance,  21-23,  32-46, 

1 1 2-1 1 9 

difficulty  of  determining 

scale,  30 

evidential     importance    of, 

47-50 

gradual      development      of 

percept  in,  25-26 

with    sensations    of    smell 

and  taste,  32 

in  inducing  insensibility  to 

pain,  45-46 

sleep  at  distance,  44 


Flammarion, 
103  n. 


Professor, 


"Fleetwood,"  Mrs.,  case  con- 
tributed by,  118 

Flournoy,  Professor,  281 

Fludd.  Robert,  7 

"Forbes,"  Mrs.,  her  automatic 
writing,  303-304 

"Forcing"  choice  in  spiritual- 
istic experiments,  192 

Forgetfulness  of  non-coincident 
hallucinations,  106-109 

Fox  family,  first  mediums,  150 

Fraud,  disinterested,  174-175 

Fryer,  Rev.  A.  T.,  case  re- 
corded by,  351 


Garrison,  Mr.  T.  B.,  case  con- 
tributed by,  54 

Gasparin,  Count  de,  204 

Ghost,  popular  conception  of, 
not  borne  out  by  the  facts, 
222,  272-274 

Gilbert,  Dr.,  experiments  in 
sleep  at  distance,  44 

Glanvil,  Joseph,  149 

Glardon,  Rev.  A.,  his  experi- 
ments in  telepathy,  33-37 

case  recorded  by,  352 

Gleason,  Dr.  Adele,  case  con- 
tributed by,  80 

Godfrey,  Mr.  Clarence,  case  con- 
tributed by, 112 

Grant,  Mr.  Cameron,  case  con- 
tributed by,  218 

Gravitation,  hypothesis  of,  com- 
pared with  telepathy,  14 

Green,  Mrs.,  case  contributed 
by, 120 

Grottendieck,  Mr.,  case  re- 
corded by, 164 

Gumey,  Edmund,  6,  45,  100  n., 
102,  123,  128,  216,  219,  252- 
253. 275.  279-280,  346 


370 


Index 


H 


Hallucinations,  general  discus- 
sion, 99-1 1 1 

as    explanation   of    ghosts, 

100 

associated  with  Poltergeist 

cases,  167-169 

census  of,  by  S.  P.  R.     See 

Census. 

collective,  130-145 

dissociation  of  conscious- 
ness in,  138-140 

dreamlike  nature  of,    130- 

138,  248 

forgetfulness  of,  106-109 

grotesque,  137 

of  the  sane  contrasted  with 

hallucinations  of  disease  105  n. 

popular  misconception    of, 

100 

post -hypnotic,  101-102,139 

telepathic,    experimentally 

produced,  11 2-1 19 

Haly,  Mrs.,  case  contributed  by, 
216 

Hand-holding  at  spiritualist 
stances,  196-198 

Hansen  and  Lehmann,  their  crit- 
icism of  telepathy,  21  n. 

Harden,  Judge,  case  procured 
by,  290 

Haunted  houses,  5,  245-274 

Hervey,  Miss,  case  contributed 

by,  13s 

Hilprecht,  Professor,  dream  re- 
corded by,  225 

Hobday,  Mr.,  case  contributed 
by, 132 

Hodgson,  Richard,  6,  81,  164, 
177,  182-183,  187,  189,  193- 
195,  197,  198,  207,  227,  301- 
302,  308-310,  320,  337 


Holbom,  Rev.  A.,  case  pro- 
cured by,  234 

Home,  D.  D.,  173 

Hulin,  Professor,  case  recorded 
by.  347 

Husbands,  Mr.  John,  case  con- 
tributed by,  251 

Hyperassthesia  in  hypnotism,  10, 
106 

Hypnotism,  5-6,  10,  106 

work  by  S.  P.  R.  in,  275-276 

clairvoyance  in,  335-340 

Hyslop,  Professor,  and  Mrs. 
Piper,  326 

Hysteria  and  dissociation  of 
consciousness,  281 


Illness,  prediction  of,  351-352 
Impersonation    in    trance,   284- 

286 
Insensibility  to   pain   produced 

by  telepathy,  45-46 


J 


Janet,  Professor  Pierre,  44,  281 
Johnson,     Miss     Alice,     experi- 
ments by,  16-27,  45 


Keame,    Mr.,   case   contributed 

by,  132,  138 
King,  Mr.  G.,  case  contributed 

by,  217 
Kitching,  Miss,  case  contributed 

by,  216 
Knight,  Mrs.,  case  contributed 

by,  95 
Krekel,   Mrs.,  case   contributed 

by,  82 


Index 


371 


Lane,  Mr.  F.,  case  contributed 

by, 354 
Lang,  Mr.  Andrew,  55,  62,  92, 

149.151.159 
Lankester,  Professor  Ray,  173 
Latency    of   telepathic    impres- 
sions, 148 
Latent  memory,   223,  229,342- 

343 
Lehmann    and     Hansen,    their 

criticism  of  telepathy,  2 1  n. 
Li^beault,  6 

Lodge,  Sir  Oliver,  196-198 
his  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper, 

317-319 
Lombroso,  Professor,  196 

M 

Mann,  Mrs.,  case  contributed 
by,  91 

Manville,  Mr.  E.,  190 

"Materialisation  of  spirits,"  173 

Maughan,  Miss,  case  contributed 
by,  125 

Maxwell,  the  alchemist,  8 

Maxwell,  Dr.,  202 

Mc Alpine,  Mrs.,  cases  contrib- 
uted by, 143, 353 

Memory,  errors  of,  in  spiritual- 
ist observations,  194 

Mesmerism,  5,  8,  9,  32,  44,  61-62 

Michell,  Mrs.,  case  contributed 
by,  130 

Miles,  Miss,  and  Miss  Ramsden, 
experiments  in  thought  trans- 
ference by,  39-44 

Mirville,  Marquis  de,  his  testi- 
mony at  the   Cideville    trial, 

154-155 
Moir,  William,  cage  contributed 
by.  254 


Montague-Crackanthorpe,  Mrs. 

case  contributed  by,  256 
Morselli,  Professor,  199,  202 
"Morton,"   Miss,  records    of    a 

haunted  house,  266 
Moses,  Stainton,  173,  306,   327- 

328 
Myers,  Frederic,  6,   7,  52,  196- 

198,  204,  207,  220,  275 
his    theory    of    subliminal 

consciousness,  332-334 

N 

Nery,  Donna,  case  contributed 
by, 226 

Newbold,  Professor  R.,  case 
recorded  by,  362 

Notes,  contemporary,  in  cases 
of  spontaneous  thought 
transference,  presentiments, 
etc.,  52,  56,  59,  67,  80,  84,  87, 
91,92.  112,  125,  135,  143,218, 
288,  292,  350,  360 

O 

Observation,  continuous,  in  spir- 
itualist experiments,  193-195 

O'Donnell,  Mrs.,  case  contrib- 
uted by, 249 


Pain,  telepathic  impression  of, 
69 

Paladino,  Eusapia,  spirit  me- 
dium, 195,  202-203 

Paracelsus,  7,  8 

Parish,  Edmund,  on  hallucina- 
tions, 139,  169  n. 

Peebles,  Mr.  S.,  case  contrib- 
uted by, 213 

"Pelham,  George"  and  Mrs, 
Piper,  320-326 

Phantasnts  of  the  Living,  3 


372 


Index 


"Phinuit,  Dr.,"  and  Mrs.  Piper, 
307-309,  319 

Physical  effluence,  apparent 
evidence  of,  45 

Piddington,  Mr.  J.  G.,  59,  105 
n. 

Piper,  Mrs.,  208,  294,  306-330 

her  early  "controls,"  307- 

308 

characteristics  of  her  com- 
munications, 309-310 

illustrative  cases,  311-326 

Podmore,  Mr.  A.,  188 

Policy,  Mr.  John,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  65 

Prayer  incited  by  telepathy, 
74 

Precognition,  331-332,  344-365 

Prediction  of  death,  352 

of  illness,  351-352 

Prince,  Dr.  Morton,  280 

Private  mediumship,  174-175 

Professor ,  case  contributed 

by,  52 

Pseudo-presentiment,  Professor 
Royce's  hypothesis  of,  145 

R 

R.,  Miss,  case  contributed  by, 
141 

Ramsden,  Miss,  and  Miss  Miles, 
experiments  in  thought  trans- 
ference by,  39-44 

Raps,  "spirit,"  1 50-1 51 

Raseco,  Mr.,  experiments  in 
thought  transference  by,  32 

Reciprocal  action  in  telepathy, 
119-123 

Reddell,  Frances,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  236 

Reichenbach's  researches,  5 

Reverie,  286-287 


Richet,  Professor,  196-198 

his  experiments  in  tele- 
pathy, 44 

Robbery,  dreams  of,  92,  343 

Robinson,  Mr.  E.,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  71 

Rontgen  rays,  1 1 

Rose,  Mr.  F.  W.,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  115 

Royce,  Professor,  on  pseudo- 
presentiments,  145 

"Russell,"  Miss,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  241 

Russell,  Mr.,  apparition  of,  215 


S.,   Mr.    H.   W.,   his   report   on 

Davey's  slate-writing,  183 
Schiller,  Mr.  F.  C.  S.,  208 
Scott,  Miss,  case  contributed  by, 

260 
Sidgwick,  Mrs.,  45,  91,  145 

experiments  by,  16-27 

on  the  Piper  case,  329 

Sidgwick,  Professor  H.,  204,  206 

experiments  by,  16-27 

and  the  census  of  halluci- 
nations, 102 

his   reply    to    Hansen   and 

Lehmann,  21  n. 

on  private  mediums,  1 73 

Sims,  Mr.  G.  R.,  case  contributed 

by,  90 
Singh,    Prince    Victor    Duleep, 
case  contributed  by,  106,  127, 

Skeletons  in  connection  with 
psychical  disturbances,  254- 
259 

Slade,  "Dr.,"  American  medium, 
173-176 


Index 


373 


Slate-writing  by  "spirits,"  175- 

195 

Sleep,  telepathic  production  of, 
at  distance,  44 

Smell,  transference  of,  experi- 
mental, 32 

spontaneous,  69 

Smith,  Mr.  G.  A.,  experiments 
by, 16-27 

report  on  slate- writing  by, 

178 

Society  for  Psychical  Research, 
I,  4,  102-109,  231-234,  306, 
309.  336 

"Spirit"  communication,  207- 
211.     See  also  Piper,  Mrs. 

Spiritualism,  5,  65,  150,  172 

Spontaneous  telepathy,  eviden- 
tial defects,  47-50 

Stramm,  Mdlle.,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  292 

Substitution  in  slate-writing, 
178-191 

Symbolic  dreams,  95,  349 


Tandy,  Rev.  G.  M.,  case  con- 
tributed by,  217 

Tedworth,  the  Drummer  of, 
149-150,  159 

Telepathy,  difficulties  of  a  phys- 
ical explanation,  10-14 

Templeton,  Mr.  J.  M.,  report  on 
slate-writing  by,  178 

Terriss,  W.,  dream  of  his  mur- 
der, 92  n.,  354 

Theosophy,  6,  173 

Thorel,  plaintiff  in  Cideville 
trial,  151-161 

Thury,  Professor,  204 

Tinel,  M.,  defendant  in  Cide- 
ville trial,  151-161 


Townshend,  Rev.  C.  H.,  and 
clairvoyance,  335 

Transition  between  experi- 
mental, and  spontaneous  tele- 
pathy, 110,  II 2-1 19 

Trickery,  confession,  in  Polter- 
geist cases,  162 

in  spiritualism,  172 

Tuckey,  Dr.  Lloyd,  6 

Tweedale,  Rev.  C.  L.,  case  con- 
tributed by, 146 

U 

U.,   Frau,  case  contributed  by, 

67 
Unconscious  cerebration,  279 


Venner,  Mr.,  190-192 
Verrall,    Mrs.,    experiments     in 
thought  transference  by,  27- 

31 
— — her  automatic  writing,  299- 

305.  357-359 
cases  contributed  by,  350, 

357 
Vidigal,    Dr.,    case    contributed 
by, 297 

W 

Wallace,  Dr.  A.  R.,  186 

Ward,  Captain,  case  contributed 
by,  120 

Water,  glass  of,  used  for  crystal 
vision,  64 

Wedgwood,  Mr.  Hensleigh,  on 
slate-writing,  176  n. 

Wesley,  John,  and  the  ghost  at 
Epworth,  149 

Whispering,  subconscious,  as 
explanation  of  thought  trans- 
ference, 20,  21  n.,  32 


374 


Index 


Whiting,  Miss  Lilian,  case  con- 
tributed by, 224 

Wilkie,  Mr.  J.  E.,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  294 

Wilson,  Mrs.  H.  J.,  case  procured 
by,  236 

Wiltse,  Dr.  A.  S.,  experiments 

by, 32-33 


Witchcraft  in  connection  with 
Poltergeist  disturbances,  152, 
159-160 


Young,  Mr.  J.  F.,  case  contrib- 
uted by,  56 


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